Forever the Golden Trio
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Ron, Harry and Hermione have decided to stay together forever. They'll find that this is harder than they thought...Rated for adult themes.
1. Intro

**_LbN: Hello! This was the first request, coming in from Andromedaa, who asked for an OT3 fic with Harry Ron and Hermione. This Bud's for you A!_**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

"Ow!" Harry yelped, snatching his hand away from the frying pan.

Ron flipped another egg and turned his attention to his husband, who was pouting and running his hand under the tap.

"Knock it off you big baby," he smiled. "You've barely even got a red spot." He turned the water off and kissed Harry's finger. "Now come on, we have to get breakfast ready. You can take care of the juice if you don't want to burn yourself again."

Harry stuck his tongue out at his grinning husband, but went to pour the juice. With one last chuckle at his slightly dramatic lover, Ron went back to cooking. As he was frying the tomatoes, he heard a noise on the stairs. Turning around, he was confronted by a serious dilemma. At that moment, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to kiss Harry for buying the lingerie or Hermione for wearing it. Purple lace boy shorts and a tank top clung to her body as she descended the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

"What are you two up to?" she asked. "I heard Harry yell. Ooh, breakfast!"

"We were trying to surprise you," Harry blushed as she sat down and took a glass of pumpkin juice. "I burned myself."

"You two are so sweet," she said, kissing his injured finger. "Ron did all the cooking, didn't he?"

"Hermione Granger Weasley Potter! Are you insinuating that I can't cook?" Harry chuckled, taking a plate of potatoes from Ron.

"I'm not insinuating anything. It's a well known fact. And must you call me by my full name?"

"Only when you're in trouble," Harry nodded.

"To be fair, we did discuss only keeping one of our names," Ron reminded her as he sat down with the rest of the food. "You're the one who didn't think it'd be fair."

"It wouldn't," Hermione told him. "We made this threesome permanent; we're using all of our names."

"Our poor kids…" Harry mumbled.

"Maybe we can just flip a Galleon for each of them," Ron laughed. "Or go in order: Granger, Weasley, Potter, Granger, Weasley, Potter, Granger, Weasley, Potter."

"Umm, who at this table is having nine kids?" Hermione asked.

"You," the boys grinned.

"Merlin's balls I am!" Hermione shook her head. She took a couple more bites of food and rose from the table. "I'm going to see Ginny and Tonks today, want to come?"

"I always want to come," Harry said, wiggling his eyebrows. Ron laughed and milk came out of his nose.

"Okay, so you're staying here…" Hermione rolled her eyes. "I need to get ready; it okay if I dodge dishes?"

"Course love!" they nodded. Giving both boys kisses, Hermione ran back upstairs. Once she was gone, Ron leaned over and planted a large kiss on Harry's cheek.

"What was that for?" The Boy Who Lived asked.

"For having great taste in lingerie…" Ron smiled and continued to eat his breakfast.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it. The other chapters will be longer; this was just the intro. Right now, I'm planning four more chapters for this story. We'll see where this goes though. Send reviews, mmmkay??_**


	2. Special Occasions

**_LbN: Hey guys! Hope you like the new chapter!!_**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

Harry snuck silently into the shower behind Ron. Wrapping his arms around the redhead, he kissed the back of his neck and grinned as the older man shivered. Ron turned around and held Harry to him, smiling.

"What should we do today?" he asked. "You don't have training, which means I don't have to go watch over your accident prone ass."

"Hey now," Harry grinned. "It's not like I made you become a manager. I've needed looking after since I was born; you knew what you were getting into."

Ron nodded and kissed Harry. "True," he nodded. "But most of that distress was brought on by Voldemort or his followers trying to do you in. I had no idea you'd take to getting hurt every other practice."

"I do not!" Harry said, shampooing Ron's head. "It's more like…once a week."

Ron chuckled. "Ooh! Soap in my nose! Anyway, you still haven't answered my first question."

"What? Oh, what we should do today. I don't know; maybe we should go see Fred and George. They said we could come by anytime."

"Ok," Ron nodded and shook water from his hair. "Then stop feeling me up; I need to bathe."

Harry smiled and scrubbed himself, trying hard not to get distract by his husband. After a very quick shower, he hopped out and wrapped in a towel.

"Will you be out before lunch, or should I take a nap?" Harry smiled.

"Quiet you! I'll be out in a minute."

**FGT**

"Harry, Ron!" Angelina said. "How are you?"

"Great!" Ron told her. "Thought we'd stop in and see how the shop was doing. We haven't been over here in so long."

"How have you been?" Harry asked, giving her a hug.

"Great! Managing finances for this place is crazy, as always, but it's good. And of course, I have my job of keeping Fred in line."

"Bet that's crazier than the one you get paid to do," Ron chuckled.

"You know it. Doubly crazy when Katie's out of town and I have to baby-sit George as well."

"Where are George and Katie today?"

"They took Landon and Mirella to the zoo. They figured since they were dumping the shop on us for the day, they'd take our daughter along as well. I'll ring for Fred; he's up in the lab developing something or other."

Harry and Ron grinned at each other as Angelina walked over to a large dragon head that was mounted on the wall. She reached out and gave the tongue a sharp tug. A moment later, a small humming noise that the men hadn't noticed until then ceased and they heard footsteps above them. Fred came down the stairs, eyebrows slightly singed, and walked to the front of the shop where the other three were standing.

"You made it! I was starting to wonder when you'd actually come by," he grinned.

"Nice eyebrows," Ron said, giving his brother a hug.

"Working on something new!" Fred told them. Angelina rolled her eyes and smiled. "Want to have a look?"

"Yeah!" Harry nodded.

Fred beckoned for them to follow him and the three of them walked up the stairs to the lab.

**FGT**

"So have you told them yet?" Ginny asked, setting a cup of water in front of Hermione.

"No, not yet," Hermione shook her head.

"Hermione!" Tonks said. "How long are you going to wait? I'm surprised they haven't figured it out already."

"I'm going to tell them soon, really. It's just…I understand this better than they do. When we first talked about getting married, they made it sound like it would be the easiest thing in the world. We all knew we would have some, you know, rough spots that we'd work through, but I don't think the guys realize that they do get jealous. I'm just…" Hermione trailed off

"You're afraid they'll want to know which of them is the father," Tonks finished.

"I know it's horrible," Hermione said. "I mean, I should have more faith in them than this. I'm just worried."

"I know, but you have to tell them," Ginny said softly.

"I'll tell them," Hermione nodded. "Tonight."

**FGT**

Ron and Harry walked through the doors of their flat and stopped. The smell of roast beef and a lot of other good things wafted toward them.

"Did we forget something?" Ron asked Harry, panicked. "She only cooks roast beef for special occasions."

"Our anniversary is in two months, my birthday's next month, we've had your birthday already, and hers isn't until September. What could we have forgotten?" Harry ran through the list of special occasions.

"Harry? Ron?" Hermione called coming into the kitchen doorway. "Hey," she smiled, giving them both a hug and a kiss. "How was your day? Are the twins doing okay?"

"We only saw Fred and Angelina," Ron told her as he hung up his cloak. "George and Katie took the kids to the zoo, so they weren't around."

"Fred showed us some of the stuff they're developing though," Harry continued. "The business is still doing really well. The new line they're coming out with at the end of the year is going to be great! It's just for kids."

"Great," Hermione smiled. She went back to setting the plates on the table. She fidgeted with her bracelet for a second before putting on oven mitts to bring the roast and noodles to the table. "Harry, can you grab the carrots? And Ron, if you'd get the drinks that'd be great."

"Sure thing," Ron nodded, going to the fridge. "What do we want tonight? There's a new bottle of Firewhiskey that we haven't opened."

"Oh, I think I'll just have pumpkin juice, thanks. Not really…in the mood for alcohol," Hermione mumbled.

Ron glanced curiously at Harry. Their wife was officially acting strange. She sat down next to Harry and began to play with her bracelet again. Ron brought over the pumpkin juice and they served themselves in silence. Finally, when Harry couldn't stand it anymore, he set his fork down and turned to Hermione.

"So, what's the occasion? I can't figure it out, and you only cook our favorite meal on special days."

"Well…" Hermione started. "I have something to tell you both."

"What's that?" Ron asked.

"I'm pregnant."

**_LbN: Yeah, I know I've done a "pregnant woman" story already, but this one's going to be really different. Hope you liked the chapter! Send reviews. Oh, and I'm still taking requests, by the way :). _**


	3. Planning

**_LbN: Happy reading everyone!_**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

"Harry," Ron whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I can't sleep. Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Okay."

The two men slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Hermione. Harry scribbled: _**We couldn't sleep. Went for a short walk, be back soon. Love you! **_on a piece of parchment and set it on the night table. After throwing on some clothes, they walked out of their room, closing the door behind them. Grabbing their cloaks off of the hooks in the living room, they made their way out of the apartment. For a few minutes, they walked in silence. When they reached the park, Harry broke the silence.

"Big news," was all he said.

"Yeah," Ron nodded, taking his hand. Harry smiled and snuggled a little closer.

"Why do you think she was so nervous to tell us?" he asked.

"I think I know…"

"I think I do too, but I wanted to see what you thought."

"I think she was worried that we'd want to know which of us the father is. Which, of course, could potentially present problems."

"Yeah, I thought so too. Do you want to know?" Harry asked after a few moments.

"Curious, but I think we should leave it. We might, you know, figure it out when the baby's born. We're going to be dads."

Harry felt a surge of affection for Ron at the redhead's words. He sounded damn near giddy at the thought.

"We should head back," he said, smiling up at Ron.

The two of them turned around and walked back to their apartment. Slipping into bed on either side of Hermione a few minutes later, Harry mouthed, "I love you," to Ron. The older man leaned over and gave him a kiss before settling back down and going to bed.

**FGT**

"So you're due in March?" Ron asked

"Late March, early April," Hermione nodded. "So we have plenty of time to plan."

"Buying a house, shopping, decorating the nursery, shopping, pillow fighting to the death about names, shopping…" Harry listed.

"Wait, buying a house?" Hermione asked. "Since when are we doing that?"

"Since our family of three is becoming a family of four," Harry explained. "I know the flat is big, but still…"

"Why do I get the feeling you two looked into this while I was puking this morning?" Hermione asked with a smile. The two men looked at their feet; she knew them far too well.

"You have to admit," Ron smiled. "It's a good idea. Besides, we'd talked about maybe moving before."

"Point taken," Hermione nodded.

"Alright, when's your next doctor's appointment?" Harry asked. He was sitting on the floor next to the coffee table with a huge calendar in front of him. Three day planners were sitting next to it and he was trying to coordinate all of them.

"In two weeks, on Friday."

"Perfect! That's Ron's and my day off."

"That's what I was going for," she smiled.

Harry made a few more notes on the calendar and held it up. Different colored ink and sticky notes littered the page, but somehow it still made sense. Harry's look of smug satisfaction made the other two laugh, but they had to give him credit for planning the next nine months in a matter of hours. He got up and conjured a hook, placing the calendar on it.

"Ha!" he said. "We have a plan."

"You know that's going to get shot to hell, right? There's no way we can stay on schedule the entire time," Ron told him.

"Thank you Ronald," Harry rolled his eyes. "Okay, how about this, now we have an _outline_."

"I'll go with that," Ron nodded, grinning.

"You two are ridiculous," Hermione laughed. "Come on, help me get dinner started."

**FGT**

"LEFT HARRY!" Ron bellowed. Unfortunately, Harry didn't hear him and was hit with a Bludger. "Damn," he sighed, as the coach blew his whistle.

"Alright Knights, take a break. Harry, go see Ron and Amelia."

With immense difficulty, Harry steered his broom over to the managers' table and hopped off. He sat down and winced as Amelia took of his arm and shoulder pads. Ron gave him a cup of Skel-E-Grow and he downed it; trying to ignore the taste. His husband tapped his arm twice and Harry could feel it healing.

"Right, listen you lot," Coach told them. "Our game Saturday is going to decide whether or not we land the playoffs this year. It's going to be brutal; you all remember what happened when we played Paris last year."

A collective shudder ran through the Nottingham Knights as they thought about the most violent game any of them had experienced.

"That means we have to be on top of things. The Knights are going to take the Cup this year!"

The team let out a cheer and after a few more minutes of pep talk, the coach dismissed them for the day. Harry threw all of his gear into his sports bag and followed Ron out of the arena. The two of them Apparated in front of their building and walked up the stairs to their flat.

"We probably shouldn't tell Hermione about this," Harry said, pulling out his wand and unlocking the door. "She gets kind of…upset, when I get hurt."

"Yeah."

"Harry! Ron! Is that you?" Hermione called as they walked through the door.

"Yeah, it's us," Ron replied.

"How's Harry's arm?" Hermione came and stood in the doorway as they hung their cloaks up. The two men gave her a bewildered look. "Amelia sent me a message to tell you to take more Skel-E-Grow tonight. She wasn't sure if she reminded Ron."

"My arm's fine," Harry smiled, giving her a kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"I've been better. Had a bad time with morning sickness today."

"Who named it that?" Ron wondered aloud. "It's not really morning sickness if it lasts all day."

"Good point," Hermione nodded. "What do you guys want for dinner? And please don't say broccoli or salsa."

"How about we make you dinner?" Harry offered. "Steak and potatoes sound good? I think I can manage that with only minimal assistance from our husband."

"Sounds great," Hermione smiled, putting her feet up on the couch. "Call me when it's ready."

**_LbN: Hope you liked the chapter. Send reviews, yes yes? Oh, and I'm still taking requests for a while, if anyone's interested._**


	4. Jealous Energy

**_LbN: Hey guys! Hope you like the new chapter!_**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

_**Month 3**_

Harry taped up another box and stacked it on top of some others. He tossed the tape roller on the couch and walked into the kitchen for a drink. Listening hard as he sipped his water, he decided that they must've fallen asleep; there was no noise. He placed the glass on the counter and went back to the living room to continue packing. In the middle of wrapping some of their pictures in bubble paper, Ron came bounding down the stairs.

"Where've you been?" Harry asked. "Foot massages don't normally take…an hour and a half."

"Well," Ron began, scratching his nose. "She was watching one of her stories while I was doing it and the dad on the show finally got custody of the kids. So she started crying—happy tears, I think—and I had to hold her for a while until she calmed down. We kind of fell asleep…"

"Oh," Harry nodded vaguely. He continued wrapping and packing the pictures. When had they gotten so many?

"Don't be grouchy," Ron said, handing him the tape. "It's not like I was trying to skip out on working."

"Whatever," Harry shrugged.

"Ron!" they heard Hermione call. "Would you bring me some tea please? My stomach's upset."

"Sure! I'll be right back," he told Harry, but the other man wasn't listening.

"I'm going flying," The Boy Who Lived mumbled, grabbing his broom and cloak.

"What, right now?" Ron asked from the kitchen.

"I'll be back."

Closing the door quietly, Harry looked up and down the hall to make sure no one would see him Dissapparate. Finding no one there, he closed his eyes and transported himself to the training pitch. When he opened his eyes he let out a relieved sigh. He hadn't wanted to share that day, and fortunately there was no one there at the moment. It wasn't really surprising that the pitch was empty; Quidditch players didn't really want to practice on their days off. Mounting his broom, he kicked off the ground and sped toward the facility's high ceiling. He did a few turns and loops to let off some steam before coming back to the ground. He grabbed his Snitch out of his bag and let it loose, waiting a few moments before speeding after it.

After a while, he slowed his broom and looked at his watch. He had been there for an hour and a half, no wonder he was sweating. He heard the noise of someone Apparating under him and spun his broom around. With a smile, he landed next to Seamus Finnigan.

"How's it, Seamus?" he asked.

"Potter! Just the bloke I was thinking about," Seamus said, dropping a large bag to the floor. As he unzipped it, Harry saw a large assortment of brooms. "Here, try this one. Brand new Magnus 800."

"It's been tested and everything? Hermione'll kill me if I come home broken."

"Sure it has! Just want to see some consumer response before we put them out on the market."

Harry nodded and, setting his own broom on the bench, mounted the new broom. Before he kicked off, he looked at the handle and tail. Both sleek and black, the broom was in the shape of an arrow; it was built for speed. The next second, Harry was glad he'd done a check before kicking off. He'd have had whiplash something terrible if he hadn't. After a minute or so, he landed back next to Seamus, who was now holding a brown and gold broom.

"It's good," Harry panted. "Really good. It's a little hard to control if you're not use to it, but I think it'll be fine. The acceleration's brilliant."

"Good! Try this one out, the Golden Fox," Seamus grinned.

Harry took the broom and gave it a once over as well. It wasn't like the other one, and if you weren't a professional Quidditch player, you'd probably walk right past it in the shop. It wasn't spectacular to look at, because it could serve its purpose without alter the structure of the broom in any way. It was built for precision stopping and starting. Harry climbed on and shot into the air again. This one wasn't nearly as fast as the Magnus, but it was still quite speedy. He shot straight at the goal posts and, at the last second, put on the brakes. The broom stopped without as much as a lurch. It was brilliant.

"Seamus, can I have this one?" Harry called excitedly. He did a quick turn and dove for the ground, stopping mere inches above it.

"I'll see what I can do," Seamus told him, taking the broom back. "I'll be at the shop all next week if you want to come in."

"Definitely!" Harry nodded. "Want to grab a drink or something now?"

"Shouldn't you be home tending to the needs of your wife?" Seamus smirked.

"She's got Ron to do that," Harry muttered sourly.

"Uh oh…Tell you what, I will take that drink. Let's go."

A few minutes later the two men were sitting in large pub, Harry drinking a glass of mead and Seamus with a bottle of god only knew what in front of him. Seamus had already gotten Harry to spill what was bugging him, and neither of them weren't even drunk yet. Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to be annoyed with his friend's inquisitive nature, so he just kept talking.

"It just feels like it's just the two of them," he said.

"Listen mate," Seamus said. "Me aunt, when she had her last little one, she went through these phases of only wanting to see one person. For a while it was me uncle, then me Ma, then me cousin Fergus. By this time next week, Hermione could only want to get foot massages from you. Or Ginny. Or her doctor. You never know. Just go with it."

"You're right," Harry nodded. "I should probably get back and see how pissed at me Ron is."

"Probably," Seamus smiled. "Go on, I've got this. Never did buy you a drink when I heard about the good news."

"Thanks Seamus. I'll see you some time next week, alright?"

"See you mate!"

**FGT**

"Hey," Harry said quietly. Ron glanced at him but kept making his sandwich. "You mad at me?"

"Yes."

"Look, I'm sorry. I just needed to go clear my head. A friend beat some sense into me, if that makes you feel any better."

"Was that a literal beating?"

"No."

"Then no."

"Ron," Harry pleaded, "I'm sorry! It's not like you never get jealous…I want to be there for her too, but it's like you're the only one she's wanted for a while. And I was grumpy from packing alone today."

"I know that, Harry," Ron said, running a hand through his hair. "But that doesn't mean you just take off. You could've just told me all of that earlier; I didn't know what was wrong with you."

"I'm sorry."

"I know. Just…talk to me next time. We can't just bottle up our emotions like other couples do; it won't work out if we do. Wipe that look off your face, I know I sound like a counselor. Seriously though, if you're feeling jealous or pissed or whatever, talk to me. And for Merlin's sake, don't run off like that while Hermione's like this. She was worried about you."

"I tried to leave quietly," Harry mumbled, now thoroughly ashamed of himself.

"Yeah, but she was on her way to the bathroom and saw you from the stairs. I told her you were tired of packing and wanted some fresh air."

"Where is she?"

"Tonks and Ginny came by and took her for a "girls' night". Tonks said something about dinner and a strip club, but she was kidding. I think."

"So are you still mad at me?" Harry smiled.

"A little, so don't push your luck for the next couple of days. Want a sandwich?"

"Sure," Harry chuckled, resolving to be on his best behavior until he was fully forgiven.

**_LbN: Good? Bad? Ugly? Send reviews!_**


	5. A Road Trip and a Party

**_LbN: Figured out as I started writing this chapter that there was NO WAY I could have done this in 5. I don't know how long it will be quite yet, but there will be at least two more chapters. :D Lucky you guys, right? _**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

_**Month 6**_

Ron stared at the shelves of medical supplies and back down at his list. He checked a few things off before grabbing two more bottles and three boxes of gauze from the shelf. As he was closing one of the three medicine kits on the bench, Amelia came into the storage room.

"Done with that one?" she asked, nodding to the closed box.

"Yeah, just got these two left," Ron nodded. "We need to get Skel-E-Grow and the dizziness solutions in this next one, and Coach said to pack the third one like a regular med kit."

"Right, let's get to it then."

For a while they summoned the different things in silence. When they began to pack all of it in the kits, Amelia broke the silence.

"How's Hermione?" she asked.

"She's doing really well, thanks," Ron smiled. "Moving at full waddle and crying at everything, but she's well."

"How was she when you told her about this trip?"

"Worried, but she knows I'll take care of Harry. She's not supposed to listen to or watch the Quidditch games anymore, so she's staying with my sister until Harry and I get back. She'll keep her occupied during the game."

"Sounds like a good plan," Amelia nodded with a smile. "You don't look like you're suffering from sleep deprivation yet. No late-night cravings?"

"Sure she does, but most of the time Harry goes to get them. These past couple of weeks we've been overstocking the house with food so we can get some sleep. Did I tell you, I woke up the other morning and she'd made vegetarian lasagna?"

"Sounds…interesting."

"Oh, it was amazing. We had it for lunch. She'd wanted some at two in the morning though, so she got up and made it."

Amelia laughed and summoned the list to check over. After glancing through the boxes once more, she rolled the parchment up, stuck it in her pocket and picked up one of the medical kits. Ron grabbed the other two boxes and followed Amelia out of the storage room.

A large purple bus, much like the Knight Bus, was parked in front of the training facility and the players were loading their equipment in the space underneath. Harry smiled and ran over to help the two managers.

"Thanks Harry," Ron said.

"No problem. You both ready to look after us this weekend?"

"Always ready!" Amelia laughed. "Come on, let's get this stuff put away so we don't miss all the good seats."

"I'm gonna sit with the team, that okay?" Harry asked Ron.

"Yeah, that's fine," Ron nodded. "Amelia'll keep me company."

"Endless games of Cripple Mr. Onion, right?" Amelia asked.

"That's right," Ron grinned.

The three of them hopped on the bus, each giving their coach a bit of driving advice. The bus was two stories, with tables, chairs and a kitchen on the bottom level, and beds on the top. Ron and Amelia sat down at one of the tables nearest the front and pulled out a pack of cards as the vehicle began to rumble.

"So," Amelia began as she shuffled the cards. "How does it work? You and Harry and Hermione?"

"It just…does," Ron shrugged. "We don't really have to think about it, unless one of us is feeling jealous; and that doesn't happen all that often."

"You guys must be lucky, 'cause I'd be jealous all the time."

"Well, yeah, luck is a part of it. But the other thing is that it's not like Harry and I are sharing Hermione or anything like that. We all love each other, so it works."

"Ummm," Amelia nodded.

The sun was setting by the time they reached the Bangor Bears' stadium. The coach pulled into one of the reserved parking spots and, after turning the bus off with a tap of his wand, addressed the team.

"Right then," he began. "The game's early tomorrow; Quaffle gets tossed at ten a.m. sharp, so you all need to get some rest. If you're feeling queasy or nervous, see Amelia or Ron. They've got calming potions if you need it. Night everyone!"

"Night coach!" they chorused as they climbed the stairs.

"Ron?" Harry whispered. "Could I have some of that calming potion?"

"Sure," Ron nodded, ruffling Harry's hair. He rummaged through his bag and brought out a small leather case full of vials of pink liquid. Handing one to Harry, he said, "There you go. Try and rest okay?"

"…mmkay…" Harry nodded sleepily. Ron pulled the curtains of Harry's bed around them and helped the younger man get changed. Harry was almost asleep by the time Ron helped him into bed. "Thanks love," he murmured.

"Any time," Ron smiled. "Good night."

Harry was already asleep.

**FGT**

"Come _on_, Ginny!" Hermione whined as she picked at her Belgian waffles. "They're playing right now; I just want to check the score!"  
"Absolutely not," Ginny said firmly. "Ron and Harry told me to keep you away from the Wireless until the game is over; and that's what I intend to do. Now eat! You still have to get ready before everyone gets here."

"Fine," Hermione sighed, finally starting on her blueberry covered breakfast. "Who all is coming, did you say?"

"Some of your friends from work, Tonks and me (obviously), Mum and Tonks' mum."

"Sounds fun," Hermione smiled, trying to spear a rolling berry.

"Oh, it will be," Ginny nodded.

For the next two hours, the women decorated the living room for the shower. Pink and blue ribbons, streamers, and balloons circled the perimeter of the room, and two presents wrapped in white stood on the coffee table. At one o'clock, the doorbell rang and Ginny, always ready for a party, dashed to get it. Hermione's friends Clare, Maggie, and Treva walked into the flat as Hermione waddled in from the kitchen.

"Hey guys!" she said, hugging each of them.

For thirty minutes, there was a lot of "How are you?"s and patting of Hermione's baby bump. After all of the girls were there, Tonks got everyone's attention.

"Wotcher everyone!" she smiled. "Before we start the first game, everyone is going to go on record and guess the baby's sex and birthday. I'm passing Hermione's baby book around, so in the section that says "Shower" write your guess. And before anyone asks, no, you're not allowed to put money on this."

Hermione laughed as she snuggled deeper into the couch. Once the book had made it around the whole room, Tonks set it on the table with the presents.

"Right," she said. "We're going to play a nursery rhyme game now. In this hat are slips of paper that have the first line of a nursery rhyme on it. You say one line then the next person says the next line and so forth until the rhyme is finished. If you get stuck you're out. Last person in the game wins chocolate! Hermione, you can pick first."

Hermione stuck her hand in the hat and pulled out a slip of paper. She read, "Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John…"

"Went to bed with his trousers on," Treva continued.

"One shoe off," Mrs. Weasly smiled.

"And one shoe one," Andromeda said.

"Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John," Ginny finished.

"Ginny, you can pick now," Tonks handed her the hat.

"Good night, sleep tight," Ginny started.

"Wake up bright."

"In morning light."

"To do what's right," Hermione picked up.

Treva paused and shrugged. "Never heard this one," she said.

They laughed and continued the game. To everyone's surprise, Clare ended up winning.

"Never thought you were a nursery rhyme girl," Ginny grinned at her.

"I had younger siblings," Clare smiled.

"Right, one more game before cake and presents I think," Tonks smiled. "This is the name game. Hermione's chosen a girl's name and a boy's name and they are in this box, along with Ginny's and my names. Each of you write a girl's name on the pink paper and a boy's name on the blue and put them in here. I'll scramble them up and each of you will get to draw once. If you draw the names that Hermione put in, she'll tell us; but if you don't then we have to wait until the birth announcements."

"Those are some pretty high stakes," Andromeda chuckled.

After everyone put their ideas in the box, Tonks took hold of it and gave it a good shake. Taking the lid off, she offered it to Maggie.

"Blair?" she asked Hermione, who shook her head with a smile. Next was Andromeda.

"Mitchell?" Again, Hermione shook her head.

"Katelyn?" No.

"Pierre?" No.

"Rose?" No.

"Emmanuel?" No.

"Annabelle?"

"Nope!" Hermione told Treva.

"Guess that means we're waiting till the announcements," Tonks smirked.

There were load moans of discontentment at this, but the ladies cheered a bit when Tonks brought out the cake. It was a simple two-layer cake, decorated with two teddy bears on top. Tonks was rather proud of it, seeing as she'd made it with no assistance.

"Here you go Hermione," Tonks said, handing her a knife. "Cake time!"

_**FGT**_

Hermione's eyes fluttered open as the bed shifted beside her.

"Ron?"

"Yeah, it's me. We got back a little early and Tonks told us just to stay the night. Who gave you the mobile for the crib?"

"Andromeda," Hermione yawned. "Isn't it beautiful? Where's Harry?"

"Downstairs getting a cup of tea," Ron told her. "He'll be up in a second."

"Mmmm," she snuggled closer to him, but stayed awake. She was nodding off again when she heard Harry come into the room. "Hey," she turned towards him. As he was changing, she got a glimpse of his face in the moonlight that was streaming in from the window. She gasped and sat up, waking Ron. "What happened to your eye?" she asked.

"Some clod tried to block me, but didn't have control of his broom. Got hit with the handle."

"Don't worry," Ron told her as Harry climbed into bed on her other side. "I've looked at it a bunch of times; he'll be fine in a day or two. It looks worse than it actually is."

"Alright," Hermione said doubtfully. "Did you guys win?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "It was a close game, but they beat us by a hundred points."

"Aww, I'm sorry."

"No worries," Harry shrugged. "This means we're out of the playoffs, but at least we won't have to worry about having a match when the baby's born."

"True," Hermione yawned. "Night Ron, night Harry."

"Good night."

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews!! New poll's up on my profile if you want to vote._**


	6. Bianca Ayden

_**LbN: Kind of a short chapter this time. Don't worry, the next one will be longer!**_

**Forever the Golden Trio**

_**Month 9- 5:00 PM**_

"Harry! Dinner's ready!" Ron called.

Harry turned the lawnmower off and pulled it back into the shed. He wasn't sure why, but he felt that doing things like mowing the lawn and gardening by magic wasn't sporting. As he entered the house, he kicked off his shoes and yelled, "Be right there." Harry sprinted up the stairs, splashed some water over himself in the bathroom, and grabbed another shirt to put on. When he entered the kitchen a few minutes later, he could smell garlic and cheese.

"Pasta night?" he asked.

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "Baked Alfredo noodles; Hermione wanted it."

"Sounds great. Can I help?"

"Sure, grab the bowls and glasses."

At that moment, both men heard a splattering noise.

"And the napkins," Ron smiled. "I think Hermione's knocked over a glass again."

"Ron, Harry!" they heard her call.

"What is it, Hermione?" Harry asked, walking into the dining room.

"I think my water just broke."

"Ron!" Harry called, summoning her overnight bag.

"I heard, let's go," Ron nodded.

"Ron, your apron," Hermione smiled. "Did you…oh…" she winced as a contraction hit her.

"Don't worry," Ron said calmly. "I put the food in the fridge and turned off the oven. The kitchen's lamps are off, none of the faucets are running; we're ready."

"Okay," Hermione nodded. "Let's go."

Harry drove like a bat out of hell all the way to St. Mungo's. When they got there, he and Ron helped Hermione waddle over to the receptionist's desk.

"Having…baby…" she told the man stationed there.

"Right-o!" he said brightly, and summoned a wheelchair for her to sit in. "Great, now if you'll just follow me…"

Ron took hold of the wheelchair's handles and began to push Hermione through the double doors. As they approached them, however, the receptionist stopped them.

"I'm sorry sir," he said. "Only family can be in the delivery room."

"I am," Ron said. "We're her husbands." He pointed between himself and Harry.

"Oh! My apologies, I just assumed that…" he trailed of and glanced at Harry. "No matter, on we go."

In the interest of the other two, Ron kept his face as blank as humanly possible. Now wasn't a good time for him to be jealous, or to let them know how he was feeling. It was always an issue, when they went out, that people automatically assumed that Hermione would've chosen Harry. He had no idea what people thought he was there for…

They got Hermione into her gown and onto the cot. After crushing Harry's hand during another contraction, Hermione seemed to calm down a lot.

"I'm going to grab one of the Healers," the receptionist said. "They should be here in just a minute. Just try to relax while you wait."

"Thank you," Hermione said. After he'd gone, she turned to Harry and Ron. "Shouldn't you two be notifying grandparents?" she asked with a smile.

"I sent Patroni to everyone on the way over," Ron said. "You just didn't see it because of Harry's driving. They should be here any minute."

"Knock knock," a voice said from the doorway. A small man with blue eyes entered the room. "I'm Healer Welcer, but you can call me Asher if you'd like. Hermione is it?"

"Yes," she nodded. "And these are my husbands, Harry and Ron."

"Ah! The lucky fathers to be! Well, let's get started, shall we? Forgive me, my hands are cold."

_**8:49**_

"And it's a girl!" Healer Welcer said softly. "You did so well, Hermione."

He gently took the baby to the weighing table and cleaned her up with a flick of his wand. After taking some measurements and writing down some basic information, he summoned a warm pink blanket from the basket and wrapped her up. "And now," he said, carrying her back over to the trio, "I think you'd like to hold her yourself, yes?" He smiled and placed the baby in Hermione's arms.

"She's perfect," Hermione said to no one in particular.

Harry and Ron stood next to each other, trying not to grin insanely. They were dads now. The baby was pretty much a smaller version of Hermione, as far as they could tell, except for two features. The first was that she had Harry's coal black hair. It was curly, like Hermione's, but definitely Harry's shade. The second was her eyes, which were dark blue like Ron's.

"She's…like the perfect mix of all of us," Harry stated.

"Someone needs to go tell everyone," Hermione said.

"Are we allowed to tell them the name?" Harry asked.

"Sure."

"I'll be right back then."

He sped out of the room and down the hall. The waiting room was jam packed with visitors, most of them for Hermione. Silence overtook the room when Harry slid to a halt in the doorway. All of the Weasleys, including spouses, and Hermione's parents stared at him expectantly while he tried to catch his breath.

"It's a girl!" he said finally. "Six pounds, three ounces. She's got black hair and blue eyes."

The room exploded back into noise at this. Mrs. Weasley was the first to make it to Harry and wrap him in a hug. When everyone had given their congratulations, Tonks asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Do you have a name yet?"

"Bianca Ayden Weasley-Potter," Harry grinned.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews, mmmkay? I'm still taking requests, if anyone's interested. And the new poll's up on my profile._**


	7. Clearing the Air

**_LbN: I feel the need to clear something up. Bianca is NOT a magical OT3 baby; she has one biological father. You'll find out who it is in this chapter, but the ambiguity was there for a reason. It's going to come up in this chapter and later chapters as well. Happy reading!_**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

_**6 Months**_

"You know," Hermione said as she put on her cloak. "This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I said we should have date nights again."

"I know," Harry said. "But Ron's alright with it, aren't you, Ron?"

"Yeah. Besides, it's not like we could find a babysitter. I'll go out with you next time, then Harry and I can go out. Not wonderful, but it'll work until we can all go together. Go on, have a good time."

Hermione and Harry gave him a kiss and left the house. He watched for a moment as they Disapparated before walking back into kitchen. Bianca threw her spoon down from her high chair and started wailing. Picking it back up, Ron placed it on her tray and asked, "Playing the pick up game tonight, are we?" The baby squealed happily, chucking her spoon over the edge again. They played like this for a while, Ron marveling at the fact that he wasn't getting horribly bored. He was just lucky, he thought as he gave Bianca her spoon again. Hermione loved being a mother, but got irritated with baby games like this. Harry showed little interest in the day to day things with Bianca. He would play with her for a while, and then give her to Ron or Hermione. Ron had a sneaky suspicion about why Harry wasn't thrilled with new parenthood, and he had been debating talking to him about it for a couple of weeks now. The only thing that was stopping him was that Harry seemed to be getting the hang of things and adjusting now. He was the first to volunteer for baths and bedtime; he loved rocking Bianca to sleep. Ron decided to wait a while longer to confront him on his moods. Turning his attention back to his daughter, he laughed as she threw her spoon onto the table.

"Future Quidditch Chaser indeed," he said. "Alright Little B, do you want," he summoned two jars from the counter. "Stewed carrots and beef, or puréed bananas and peaches for dinner?"

"Oooh!"

"Was that a vote for carrots then?" Ron chuckled, putting the jar full of yellow mush back.

"Egah!"

Ron grabbed a new baby spoon from the drawer and scooped some orange goop from the jar.

"Yum yum!" Ron said enthusiastically.

Bianca opened her mouth and accepted the spoon. Ron knew what was coming and cast a shield charm just before his daughter sprayed stewed carrots back at him. For the next fifteen minutes, they went through this pattern. By the time the jar was empty, Ron figured there was more baby food on the kitchen's surfaces than in his kid. He opened the jar of bananas and peaches and offered that to her. To his very great surprise, she didn't spit it out. After he managed to feed her most of the jar, he picked her up out of the high chair.

"Time for bath, Little B."

"Muh."

"I'll take that as a 'Yay!'. Let's get you in the tub."

**FGT**

"Hermione, you've had an owl," Harry said, pointing to the table. "Did Bianca go to sleep okay? She's been fighting me about nap time for a while."

"Yeah, she fought for a while, but I think she was really tired. She's asleep now."

Harry leaned back against Ron and looked back at the TellyWiz; the new wizarding television.

"Which game is that?" Hermione asked, opening her letter.

"Seville vs. Dresden. 100 to 230," Ron told her.

"Oh for Merlin's sake!"

"Nah, that's good. Seville was our biggest threat this season, so if they get bumped out of the league this game, all the better for us."

"No, not that," Hermione said absently. "The letter's from the lab. You know how we were trying to infuse the liquefied salamander scales with the herbs for the sleeping solutions? So they'll be safer to take on a regular basis without addiction? Well, one of the interns forgot to add in the Dandelion Extract before he heated the herbs in mandrake sap and baked it. So of course when he tried the infusion, the block was too brittle and broke, and the broken piece fell in the fire and ignited. Apparently, half of the herbs went up in smoke and we lost a lot of the liquefied salamander scales."

Both men looked at her, mystified. She smiled and rolled her eyes at them, walking over to give them a kiss.

"The point is," she chuckled. "I have to go in to the lab to do some damage control. Kingsley's on his way and he's going to want a full report from the boss. I'll probably be late, so don't wait for me for dinner. Bianca should get up in an hour, okay?"

"Alright," they chorused.

"See you later," she said, sweeping from the house.

"Did you get a word of that?" Harry asked.

"Something about a fire…" Ron shrugged.

They turned their attention back to the TV, cheering quietly whenever Germany's team scored or a foul was called on Spain. The game was rather one-sided, Dresden was slaughtering Seville. By the end, Harry and Ron were already working up a bracket trying to figure out which teams the Knights would now have to play. In the middle of an argument over whether or not Brazil would make it to the Semis, Bianca began to cry. Without as much as a glance toward the hallway, Harry went back to work on the bracket.

"I'll get her," Ron said. He walked quickly down the hallway and into the nursery. Picking Bianca up, he twirled in a circle and grabbed her bottle, carrying her back to the living room. He plopped down on the couch and offered Bianca the bottle.

"Do you have to do that here?" Harry grumbled.

"What? Feed her?" Ron asked. "Well, no…but why does it bother you so much when I feed her?"

"It doesn't bother me. I just…never mind."

Ron rocked Bianca until she was finished with her bottle, then set her in her bouncer. Moving closer to Harry, he asked, "What's wrong? You've been off ever since we brought her home. The only time you take any interest in her is when you're putting her to sleep."

"Look, I'm just not good at the whole parenting thing like you and Hermione are, okay. And besides…" Harry trailed off.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No, not 'nothing'!" Ron said, finally getting fed up with Harry's moods. "What is it? You can't pretend nothing's wrong; even Hermione's beginning to notice."

"Good to know you talk about me behind my back."

"Oh stop being a prat, Harry! We're worried about you! You don't really talk to us anymore, at least not to me. You hardly acknowledge Bianca; what's going on?"

Harry glanced at him for a moment, but then went back to calculating Quidditch scores. Ron stormed from the room and went into the office. Flicking his wand a bit too harshly, he caused the drawer to come rocketing out of the filing cabinet and a few papers dropped to the floor. After righting it, he grabbed the paper he'd come in for and walked back into the living room. He thrust the paper under Harry's nose and stood with his arms folded.

"What's this?" Harry asked.

"Bianca's birth certificate. Read it."

Ron watched as Harry's eyes skimmed the paper. With grim satisfaction, he saw Harry's mouth drop open about half way down.

"She's mine?" Harry asked.

"Yes, she's yours. Now you can stop moping around the house."

With that, Ron stalked back to his room.

**FGT**

"Ron? Ron, wake up. I brought you dinner."

"I'm not hungry, Harry."

"Yes you are," Harry wheedled, setting the plate down on the night table. "You haven't eaten since lunch. That was over six hours ago."

"I'm not hungry."

Harry sighed and sat down next to Ron.

"Look, Ron," he began. "I'm sorry, okay? I know I've been a jerk, but I love you guys. I love Bianca. I was just…I don't know what was going on with me. But I'm sorry, alright?"

"No, Harry," Ron said. "It's not alright. What was your hang up? Were you really that upset when you thought she was my daughter?"

"Well, at first…"

"At first?" Ron asked incredulously. "It's been six months! And what made you so sure she was mine?"

"I just…I thought if she was mine, she'd have my eyes."

"What if she had been mine? How long would you have stayed detached?"

"I wouldn't have. I guess I just needed to talk about it. You know I've always been bad at coming to you guys when I'm upset."

"I know, but this is our child we're talking about! What if she had been mine?" Ron asked again. "What happens when the kid _is_ mine? You know we're going to have more kids; are you going to mope for six months every time my sperm move faster than yours?"

"Do you have to be so blunt?"

"That seems to be what works with you, so yes," Ron nodded sitting up on the bed. "And you didn't answer my question."

"No, I won't be such a prat next time. But you have to admit, you were probably disappointed too when you found out she was mine."

"Yeah, a little; but I didn't shut her out. I didn't stop talking to you either. What if we have a boy and it's mine?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"I know you wanted, you want, a boy. What if we have one and it's mine? Are you going to be disappointed and shut him and me out?"

"No, Merlin no, Ron!" Harry shook his head and wrapped Ron in a hug. The older man tried to pull away, but Harry held him tightly. "I'm sorry. I knew I was being stupid, but I didn't know I was hurting you. Look, I'm glad she's mine, but I'd be okay if she was yours as well. I just needed to talk about this and we've been so busy…we haven't really had time for us. And if we have a son and he's yours, no, I won't treat him any different than if he were mine. Cause he is sorta mine anyway, right?"

Harry gave him a grin and Ron nodded. Harry offered his husband the plate of food again, and this time, Ron accepted.

**FGT**

"Bloody hell," Hermione muttered with a smile. It'd been a while since she'd walked in on her husbands…after the fact. Throwing a blanket over the two of them, she turned off the light and went to check on Bianca.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews, mmkay? The poll's still up on my profile if you want to vote!_**


	8. Another Talk

**_LbN: I've missed this story. Sorry if I caused any panic attacks about it being over...:) We'll get cracking again! _**

**Forever the Golden Trio**

_**11 Months**_

"Da-da!"

Hermione smiled as Ron beamed down at their daughter. The three of them were taking advantage of the nice weather, and lounging in the park that afternoon. Harry was at the Quidditch Draft. Since none of the Wizarding media outlets covered it, preferring to keep the community in suspense until the next day, Ron and Hermione had decided to spend the day outside. Bianca had been crawling around chasing butterflies for a while, but was now trying to get Ron's attention.

"Hey, Little B," he said, picking her up.

"Ron, I think we should go now," Hermione said, looking past him.

"Why? What's up?" Ron turned to where she was looking and groaned.

Jogging towards them on the path was Ethan McDermott, a writer for one of the Prophet's gossip columns. He was in workout clothes, so he probably wasn't out looking for a story. Unfortunately, better reporters than Ethan broke at the prospect of getting a scoop on "The Potters" as they were known in the media.

Ron began gathering Bianca's things and throwing them into the bag, while Hermione strapped her into the stroller. The pair of them were too slow, though.

"Hermione Potter! What a surprise! How are things going at the lab?" Ethan asked.

"Just fine, thanks," she answered, glancing at Ron. By now, he was used to people ignoring him in favor of one of his other spouses, so he was playing with Bianca.

"Any new projects?"

"Nothing new right now. Hopefully we'll have something else to do soon."

"Good, good," he said. "And this is the littlest Potter!"

"Weasley-Potter," Ron corrected, handing Bianca her stuffed turtle.

"Right," Ethan said in an offhand sort of way. "How old is she now?"

"Eleven months," Ron told him. "Look, we've got to get her home; it's past her naptime."

"Oh, don't run off just yet," Ethan said. "It's been a while since I've gotten to catch up with the Potters."

"Weasley-Potters," Hermione said.

"Sure. Listen, has Bianca displayed any signs of magic yet? With parents like you and Harry, the Wizarding world is expecting it early."

"We haven't seen anything yet," Hermione said quickly. "But we really have to go while the princess here is in a good mood."

Ethan gave a chuckle at that and nodded. "Of course, of course. Have a good day!"

He jogged away down the path. Hermione looked over at Ron as he pushed the stroller towards home. She debated bringing up the elephant in the room—or, rather, in the park. She knew both of her husbands well enough to know how to handle the jealousy issues that came up from time to time. Harry's fears were normally semi-unfounded, and he required blunt conversations to pull him out of it. Ron's stemmed from the outside world giving him reminders from time to time that he was the "lesser husband". He'd gotten credit for helping in the war, but now he was just a trainer to Harry's Quidditch superstar. His bouts of jealousy required a little more delicacy, because it was really hard to prove him wrong. If he said that everyone else thought he shouldn't have intruded on Harry's and her relationship, he was probably right. If he said that everyone else didn't think he was as good of a father, he was probably right. Deciding that she needed to take care of this before Harry found out, Hermione linked her arm through Ron's and said, "Want to talk about it?"

"There's nothing to talk about, really," Ron shrugged. "I mean, I can't do anything about the fact that the world treats our family as if I'm the nanny."

"It's not fair," Hermione said. "But I have a feeling there's something else bothering you. We've been over the whole non-existence issue before."

Ron rubbed his nose—his nervous habit. "Maybe," he muttered.

"Ethan's gone, let's stay in the park for a while and talk. Hold on, there's an ice cream stand. Strawberry?"

"Sure, that's fine."

It was a well known fact that Ron had an easier time talking if he had food to pick at. Since there wasn't a roast chicken around, ice cream would have to do. Hermione returned a minute later with a cup a two spoons. "Ok, talk to me," she told him.

"Are you…you know, open to the idea of more kids?" he asked.

"You know I am," she said with a smile. "Hostile Weasley takeover, remember? Seven kids each."

Ron chuckled a little, remembering how his parents' eyes had bulged when they'd put that plan past them. "Yeah, I know."

"Did you think I wasn't?"

"No, it's just…You heard what Ethan said. 'With parents like you and Harry, we're expecting it'. As much as I want kids with you, I'm worried."

"Worried?"

"Yeah. I'm used to being second-best to Harry. I chose this, I get it. You're right, it's not fair, but I understand it. I don't want my kids to be overshadowed by Harry's. We can be one big happy family all we want, but the Wizarding world is always going to see 'Ron's kids' or 'Harry's kids'. And what if they're right? What if Bianca is some scary magical prodigy and my kid's are all normal? I don't want people to see them compared to Harry's."

Hermione was speechless. She didn't have an answer, which bothered her beyond belief. She looked down at her melted snack and then back up at Ron. To her surprise, he was smiling at her.

"I know you're thinking of what to say to cheer me up," he said. "It's okay, I'm not going suicidal over this or anything—"

"Not funny, Ronald." Hermione glared at him.

"Okay, bad exaggeration, but you know what I mean. I just think it's something we need to think about before any more Weasley-Potters come along."

Before he could say anything else, Bianca let out a wail. Scooping up some of the slightly liquefied ice cream, Ron offered the spoon to her. She gave him a look that clearly said, "What the hell are you thinking, Dad?" and continued to cry.

"I think it really is time for her nap now," Hermione said. "Let's go."

_**LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews, mmkay?**_


	9. Hostile Weasley Takeover

**_LbN: Sorry about the wait, guys! I had gnarly writers block on this one...Oh, and this chapter's rated M. It mentions pregnancy issues related to Ginny and Tonks :)._**

"Again???"

Hermione laughed as her two best friends did their best impression of school girls, complete with squealing. She nodded at them and they rushed to hug her, slipping a little on the snow. "I told the boys last night, and they agreed to finance our afternoon out so they could have time to fix the nursery up again. We still need to tell Bianca, though."

"Do you think she'll understand?" Tonks asked as they walked into the small café. "I mean, I know you're not planning on giving her all the gory details, but still…." She grabbed their drinks from the counter and followed the other two to the table.

"Oh, she'll be fine." Hermione chuckled for a second, remembering her conversation with the three year old. "We've been dropping hints about it for a while now, just to see if she's ready. I asked her point blank the other day how she'd feel about being an older sister."

"What'd she say?" Ginny asked, taking a sip of warm cocoa.

"She said she wanted to, as long as her younger siblings weren't as crazy as Uncle Fred and Uncle George…."

Tonks snorted some of her mulled wine and Ginny laughed. "Smart kid," Tonks said, nodding.

"Indeed. So you know what this means, right?" Hermione asked.

"What?"

"You two are the only ones lagging in the Weasley takeover plot." Hermione grinned as they laughed. "Get a move on, Tonks."

"We have to handle ours with more delicacy than you guys," Tonks said with a smirk.

"And that's saying something," Hermione said.

"All of us younglings know Ginny and I can do this biologically, but we're all trying not to think about it. And if the baby definitely looks like me…" Tonks morphed her hair a few different colors for emphasis, "we're going to have some serious explaining to do."

"They probably know too," Hermione said.

"Yeah, but they're going to play stupid. You know our parents," Ginny said.

Hermione just laughed. "Are you guys thinking about it?"

"Seriously considering is the stage we're at," Tonks said. "We've just got to get over nerves."

"We've been thinking about it since George and Katie had Othello last Easter. And then Fred and Angie had Avigdor and Jaeger—" Ginny began.

"Can't believe they named that child after a drink…" Hermione said.

"I know, right? Well, after they had the twins, this one started having baby envy." Ginny nodded at Tonks. "So, you know, we're thinking about it."

"That's great, guys," Hermione said, beaming at them. "So I think that puts Fred and Angie in the lead with three. What's scary is we might actually have a hostile Weasley takeover, even if we don't all have seven kids."

"Then George and Katie have two, Percy and Penelope have one—and Penelope said that's how it's going to stay. Bill and Fleur have two, you're about to have two. Charlie's got one. We really are going to take over the world!" Tonks said, laughing.

"That's the plan!" Ginny said. "Shall we get going? The snow is really starting to pick up, and I still want to shop."

*****

Hermione whistled as she walked into the house, but stopped when she saw their daughter. She smiled and walked over to the couch where the little girl was sleeping, surrounded by stuffed animals.

"We had an eventful afternoon," Harry said, coming down the stairs.

"What's that mean?" Hermione asked.

He motioned for her to follow him and walked back upstairs. They entered the nursery to find Ron sitting on the floor. "We got caught," Harry said, sitting next to him. "We'd told her we were working on the room just to redecorate it, and that it was a surprise for you. Well, that worked for a while, but she got bored with planning her puppet show and came up to see what we were doing. There's absolutely no way to explain this away." He motioned to the crib and walls, which were decorated in a bright Circus Animals theme.

Hermione sat down with them, smiling. "What did you guys tell her?"

"The truth," Ron said. "We were the ones that ended up giving the puppet show."

"Oh god…"

"It wasn't bad!" Ron laughed. "We did the kiddies' birds and bees talk, nothing graphic. But a few of the puppets had tissue added to their shirts to show 'baby bumps'. She liked the performance."

"Why are there so many stuffed animals out? Did the bear family have septuplets?"

"She wanted us to show different families," Harry said. "We had to base a family on us, the lion, bear and cat family. Fred and Angelina were the turtle and octopus couple. George and Katie were both jaguars. Er…who else, Ron?"

"Percy and Penelope were both owls. Bill and Fleur were the fish and the monkey. We even explained adoption! Charlie is the moose. Ginny and Tonks fell into the adoption category as well, because I don't want to have that conversation with our daughter."

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "Wow, that's…an interesting afternoon. Which animals were Ginny and Tonks?"

"Otter and peacock," Harry and Ron answered.

"Nice," Hermione said, nodding. "Since we're alone for a second—"

"NO!" both men said with matching grins.

"There's nothing we want to talk about," Harry said.

"Nothing's bothering us," Ron added.

"Okay," Hermione said, laughing. "Just thought I'd check."

The first thing they'd done when Hermione got the pregnancy results back was to talk. They'd sent Bianca to Fred's house to play with Mirella, and then they'd talked. And talked. And talked. For three hours, they'd laid every fear, every hope, and every moderate worry on the table and discussed it. They couldn't say they'd figured everything out, but they had their eyes completely open now. They'd decided, among other things, to find out paternity before the baby was born this time. Ron had found out accidentally, having seen the birth certificate after the doctor ran the paternity test, and it had taken a meltdown for Harry to find out. This way would be easier. Hopefully. With everything out in the open, the pregnancy was running smoother than any of them had hoped. However, Hermione had taken to asking them if they were upset about anything or wanted to talk. She did this about twice a week, just in case.

"We're fine," Harry said, kissing Ron on the cheek. "See?"

"Hey! I want one too!" Hermione said, fake pouting.

Automatically, Harry and Ron leaned over and kissed her cheeks. From the doorway, they heard,

"Eew, Daddies! Stop being mushy!"

"Ah, the princess has awakened, I see," Hermione said. "I guess that means it's time to start dinner. Pork chops and gravy?"

"Woohoo!" Harry cried, jumping to his feet. He helped Hermione up as well.

"Come on, Little B," Ron said. "Let's go downstairs. You can help make the potatoes."

"Yay!" Bianca said, bouncing a little. She walked up to her mother and hugged her, putting an ear to her stomach.

"Whatcha doing, B?" Hermione asked.

"Listening for the baby," Bianca whispered.

Hermione smiled and tried hard not to tear up. Damn emotions, they were already taking the reins…. "The baby's too small to hear yet. You'll be able to in a few weeks, though. Come on, let's go help your dads with dinner."

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews!!!_**


	10. HWT Part 2

**_LbN: WooHoo! No more finals! No more writer's block! We are back in action, friends!_**

_**May **_

Harry chuckled as he glanced out the window. He wasn't sure what Tonks' crime had been, but she was currently being tackled by all of Arthur and Molly Weasley's grandchildren-- the ones who could walk, at least. From the relative safety of the kitchen, Harry watched the struggle and tried to remember what flavor drinks he was supposed to be fetching for the two pregnant women outside. Hermione wanted grape, and Ginny…Harry looked at the various colors of drink on the counter and frowned. Strawberry? Sure, that sounded right. Filling the two glasses, Harry shook his head. Ginny wasn't even showing yet and she was already milking the fact that all the "significant others" were completely whipped.

As he picked up the drinks, Tonks stumbled through the door. "Bloody hell, mate," she said. She grabbed another cup off the counter, poured some water and downed it. "I don't know if I have enough energy for a kid!"

"You do. You'll get used to it," Harry said, chuckling. "How's Milosh doing?"

Charlie was in the process of moving back to England. His son, Milosh, was trying to learn the language and get used to his rowdy cousins.

"Oh, fine. He's playing with the others more, and only hides behind Charlie when they get too rough. Is that one Ginny's?" Tonks asked, pointing to one of the cups.

"Yeah." Harry handed it to her.

"I'll take Hermione's too. Stay here, okay? I want to talk to you about something."

Harry watched as she walked back outside to the picnic tables. After giving the drinks to the ladies, she leaned down and told Ginny something. A moment later, she was back in the kitchen.

"So what's up?" Harry asked.

Tonks sat on the kitchen table and ran her hands through her hair. It turned from purple to hot pink, then to dark green. "I'm nervous, mate. How bad were your nerves before Bianca was born?"

"Horrible. There were a few times I couldn't sleep. Ron was sick once. But once B was here, it got better…slowly. I mean, you still get nervous about screwing them up, but the waiting is over. Plus…you know how I was about our interesting family situation. That pressure's off since we talked about it, and you don't have to deal with that at all. You'll be fine."  
"I know," Tonks said. "How'd the appointment go?"

"Great! We found out it's Ron's, but we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet."

"Are you guys going to wait to find out?"

"Yeah. Ron and Hermione don't want to know, and I wouldn't be able to keep it secret."

"She's got two more months, right?"

"Right. We're starting to go crazy."

"I'm already going crazy, and we've still got six months!" Tonks said, laughing. "Maybe it's because this one's our first."

Before Harry could respond, the rest of the Weasley clan came back inside. Fred and George led the way, smiling and nodding toward the living room. Harry and Tonks grinned and followed the crowd. They'd almost forgotten about the twins' surprise for Grandma and Grandpa Weasley.

"Everyone ready?" Fred asked. The children and grandchildren nodded as Arthur and Molly sat in front, looking confused. "Right then, we have a gift for the two of you."

"Fred and I sat quietly thinking a few weeks ago…." George started, pausing as there was a collective snort from the assembled group. "And we realized something: the Weasley-Potter-Tonkses don't have a family tree! But we'd be letting down the grand tradition of the 3Ws if we just gave you a boring tree with all our names on it."

"So, in true Weasley spirit, we sat down and put our heads together—"

"And couldn't come up with anything. But, while we were thinking, our children came shrieking and running through the house."

"We chased after them, hoping to experiment the age old question: spankings or time out?"

"Alas, Fred here tripped over a box of our fireworks—"

"And that's when it hit us!"

The twins waved their wands, and two purple drapes that had covered a blank wall in the living room vanished and a wall full of color was revealed. Eight firework stars filled the wall, the largest being Arthur and Molly's with the kids' and grandkids' stars radiating out from it.

"As much as we wanted to make it change colors, we thought that might be a bit much. It does sparkle, though!" Fred told them excitedly, as Molly hugged him and George.

The gang crowded around the large wall, looking for themselves. Harry grinned at Tonks, spotting two small fireworks without pictures.

*****

Ron put Bianca down in her bed, holding back a laugh as the girl snored. He wandered back into the living room where Hermione and Harry were laughing at the smaller version of the Family Fireworks (which the twins were considering marketing). At the top it said, "One big dysfunctional happy family!" Underneath, it had all the Weasley parents and their children.

_**Bill and Fleur—Victoire (10 years old) and Dominique (8 years old)**_

_**Charlie—Milosh (8 years old)**_

_**Percy and Penelope—Molly (9 years old)**_

_**Fred and Angelina—Mirella (6 years old), Avigdor and Jeager (twins- 1 year old)**_

_**George and Katie—Landon (7 years old) and Othello (1 year old)**_

_**Ron, Harry, Hermione—Bianca (3 years old) and ?**_

_**Ginny and Tonks-- ? **_

"Two more months and we'll be able to fill in another spot," Hermione said, rubbing her stomach.

"Eleven grandkids," Ron said, smirking. "I wonder what Mum and Dad are thinking. You know they're sitting up looking at this thing."

"Molly's probably thinking she's going to need a lot more yarn for Weasley sweaters…." Harry said.

"Or that we're getting Weasley mittens from now on," Hermione agreed. "Come on, this pregnant lady's tired." Taking each of their hands, she waddled out of the living room.

**_LbN: Happy with it? Hate it? Let me know! Oh, and there's a new poll up on my profile. I'm putting one of my open stories on hiatus, cuz I can't write three at a time. So go vote on which one you want me to pause for a while. Thanks!_**


	11. Mordred Clarion

**_LbN: I just noticed that Bianca's actual birth date isn't on here. It's March 27th, just so you know :). Ummm, for anyone who speaks Romanian, I apologize in advance. I tried to get it right, but I'm going off an online dictionary... Happy reading!_**

**July 16****th****- 1:48 p.m.**

"It's a boy!" Healer Welcer said.

Harry gave a happy yelp and bounced up and down. He hugged Hermione as Welcer wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed him to Ron.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, seeing Ron's grin.

"He looks just like me!" Ron said, leaning down so she and Harry could get a good look. It was true, the baby was a little version of Ron.

"Can I go tell the family?" Harry asked, still bouncing from foot to foot like a two year old in a toy shop. He sprinted down the hall at Hermione's nod. Bounding into the waiting room, he almost tripped over Landon.

The boy rolled sideways to avoid him. "What is it, Uncle Harry?"

"It's a boy!"

There was a loud "HA!" from Landon to Dominique. "You owe me your Dublin set!"

"You bet him your entire set of Dublin Quidditch cards?" Bill asked.

Milosh looked from Charlie to Harry and back to Charlie, confusion coloring his face.

Charlie leaned down and said, "Bebeluş bǎiat!"

Milosh smiled up at Harry and nodded, catching what was going on. "Felicitǎri!"

"That means congrats," Charlie said, chuckling.

Harry nodded with a smile and hugged Milosh. He picked Bianca up when she finally fought through all of her cousins to get to him. "Ready to go meet your brother?"

"Am I!" Bianca said dramatically.

"Wait a tick!" Tonks said. "What's his name?"

"We'll tell you when we get back," Harry said.

"That means they don't know," Landon said in a loud whisper.

Harry laughed and carried Bianca back down the hallway. "You have to be quiet, okay?"

"Okay." Bianca nodded as Harry pushed open the door and set her down. She smiled brightly when she saw her mom with the baby. "Hi Mommy!"

"Hi there, B," Hermione said. "Come see your brother."

Harry and Bianca walked to the side of the bed.

Ron leaned down to hug her. "We're thinking of naming him Orwell."

Bianca scrunched her nose. "Why?"

A simple question, but the way Bianca asked it made all three adults pause. "Why not?" Harry asked.

"Maybe his middle name. He's not an Orwell."

"Here, take a proper look at him," Ron said. He picked her up so she could see the baby fully.

Bianca looked at him for a moment, smiling. Then she said, "Hi Mordred."

"Mordred?" the adults asked.

"Why Mordred?" Harry was the first to ask.

"I heard it on one of Grandma Weasley's Wireless shows. He looks like a Mordred more than an Orwell."

"Mordred Clarion," Ron said suddenly.

"I like it," Hermione said.

"Are the pair of you out of your minds?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"You've got some weird Muggle hang up over this, don't you?" Ron asked, grinning.

"Yes," Hermione said. "It's from a Muggle legend."

"You're being overruled," Ron told his husband. "No one in our world will get it."

"Fine, but I get to name the next boy," Harry said, laughing.

"I going to tell everyone!" Bianca said, running to the door.

"Wait for me," Ron said. "I want to say hi."

The two of them ran back to the waiting room. Bianca, in the lead, yelled over the noise. "I saw him! He's so little."

"You guys pick a name?" Ginny asked.

"Mordred Clarion," Bianca reported, patting her aunt's stomach.

"Mordred?" the entire room chorused.

Ron noticed that it was about 50/50 with the group's response to the name. Some were smiling and some were looking at him like he was nuts. He nodded at them and said, "Bianca picked it. I picked his middle name. Hermione agreed, but Harry's insisting on naming the next boy."

"Don't blame him," Bill muttered. Fleur poked him in the side.

"Congratulations," Arthur said, hugging his youngest son. "Mordred, like in the Muggle legend of King Arthur?"

"Thanks, Dad. And yes, I think it's that one. Harry'll be a little smug about someone else getting the reference."

"It's an interesting choice, but a strong name anyway."

"That's what I thought. I've got to get back. Are you guys going to come back tomorrow?"

There was a collective "Of course!" from the group, and Landon ran over to them. "Come on, Bianca," he said, leaning down. "Piggy back ride!"

"Bye Daddy!" Bianca said, hugging him. She jumped onto Landon's back and they took off at a speed that would've made Hermione cringe had she been there to see it.

"Thanks for taking her for the night," Ron said.

"Not a problem little brother," George said, giving him a pat on the back. "You go be with your better halfs…better thirds rather. We'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then." Ron hugged all of them once more before heading back to the room. When he got there, he knew something was up. He heard a bunch of voices inside the room, one of which he didn't recognize. Pushing open the door, he saw the last person on earth he wanted to see. "Afternoon, Ethan."

"Hello Ronald," Ethan McDermott said. He stowed his quill and notepad in the pocket of his robes as Ron walked into the room. "Just checking in on the littlest Potter."

"Weasley-Potter," Ron said through clenched teeth. He was trying, and failing to keep his jealousy in check.

"You know, it'd be a lot easier on everyone if you'd just drop the Weasley," Ethan suggested.

"No," Hermione said, before Ron or Harry could tear the reporter a new one. "We dropped Granger out of complete necessity, but we're all a family. We're Weasley-Potters."

"Anyway," Ethan said, ignoring her. "I was just wondering about his name. We can't call him Baby Potter in the paper."

"Weasley-Potter!" Ron said. He was starting to turn purple from holding his breath.

"Sure, whatever—" Ethan began, but Harry cut him off.

"No! Not whatever," Harry said. "Does this kid look anything like me? If you have to drop a name, if you really can't get your mind around a hyphen, drop 'Potter'! Yes we're all a family, but biologically he's Ron's. Mordred Clarion _**Weasley**_-Potter. That's his name. Stop with this Potter only shit, for Christ's sake!"

Ethan had the good grace to look ashamed of himself. "Well…erm…that's all I needed. Good day then." He scuttled out of the door.

Once he was gone, Ron pulled Harry into a hug. "Thanks," he said. "Don't think he'd listen to me." He was speaking in strange, caveman-like grunts.

"Don't mention it," Harry said. "But seriously, I get to name the next one."

Ron chuckled. "Hey, my dad got the reference and he didn't care. So it must not be too bad."

"We'll talk," Hermione said, laying Mordred in his cradle.

Ron laughed and kissed their son on the forehead. He gently smoothed the baby's red hair back and sat with Harry on the chair.

"You two don't have to stay," Hermione said, smiling at them. They'd had this argument when Bianca was born as well. "Go on home and take a nap. We'll be fine on our own for a while. Plus, I'm guessing you two could use some alone time."

The two men grinned at her. "You're sure?" Harry asked.

She nodded. "It's going to be boring here for you anyway. I'm three and a quarter minutes away from going to sleep myself. And the prince is already."

"Alright," Ron said, nodding. "We'll be back later."

Both men gave her and the baby a kiss before exiting the room.

**_LbN: Reviews make me smile! Oh, and don't forget to vote! The poll's on my profile. Peace out!_**


	12. Dream or Disaster?

**_LbN: It's a teensie bit shorter of a chapter this time. It brings up some stuff that'll play out soon. Happy reading!_**

"Harry, do want to grab the Prophet while I feed Mordred?" Ron asked with a pleading smile.

"You just don't want to go out in the rain," Harry said, but grabbed his shoes. "And, on a random note, nothing six days old should be able to eat that much! Didn't I just feed him?"

Ron laughed and shook his head. He walked into the nursery as Harry ran downstairs to fetch the paper. He picked Mordred up just as the boy was starting to fuss. "Come on, little prince. We'll get you something to eat." He danced around the nursery for a moment to get Mordred to stop crying before walking to the kitchen. Grabbing one of the bottles on the counter, Ron decided to settle on the couch to feed him. As he offered the bottle to his son, Harry walked back in with the paper.

"Let's see what they're talking about today, shall we?" he said, taking off his raincoat. He sat on the sofa next to Ron and unfolded the paper.

Instantly, Ron knew something was up. Harry's face had gone into a look of dark outrage, and that was never a good sign. "What's up? What is it?" he asked.

"That stupid –"

Ron was quite impressed at how many different names Harry came up with for Ethan McDermott. He was also glad Hermione had declared it 'Girl's Day' and was out with Bianca. She would have killed The-Boy-Who-Lived if she and/or their daughter had heard the string of obscenities leaving his mouth. "What did he write?"

"Nothing," Harry said. He was taking deep breaths and pinching the bridge of his nose. He jumped to his feet and power walked to the kitchen for water, taking the paper with him.

Ron conjured a cradle for Mordred and placed the mostly empty bottle on the coffee table. Placing the boy in the basket, he went to find Harry. "What's going on? Let me see the paper." When Harry looked at him, he could tell an intense internal struggle was taking place in the Quidditch star. Ron could tell Harry was deciding between keeping it from him as long as possible, or getting the unpleasantness over with quickly.

The second option won out and with a pained expression, Harry handed over the paper. "We'll deal with this," he said. "He won't get away with it."

Taking the paper, Ron was faced with a rather good picture of the three of them, with the heading: **The Golden Trio- Dream or Disaster? **Ron closed his eyes and took a deep breath before reading. In his anger at being snubbed and scolded at St. Mungo's, Ethan had outdone himself on this article.

_**Everyone knows the Weasley-Potters. The Wizarding world's most famous trio has recently added to their larger than life family. A baby boy, name of Mordred Clarion, was born last Thursday to Hermione Weasley-Potter. Many of you may be wondering why I continue to refer to them by the two names, and in fact, I'm wondering the same. In light of the fame of Harry Potter and the success of his wife and husband, many turn a blind eye to the abnormality that is there home situation. Their insistence on using both men's names is just one of the odd quirks that brings it to light again. Many will agree with me when I say that the name 'Weasley' is superfluous and not as strong as Potter. The family is touchy on the subject, feeling that dropping it would be unequal. This begs the question of what they will say when their children raise the question of having a three-parent family. No doubt it will arise soon, as their oldest (Bianca Ayden) is already three years old and is bound to have some questions about her peculiar family. Becoming a big sister is hard enough without having one too many parents! Some might say that the Potters—excuse me, Weasley-Potters are just living their dream. They might say that with all these three have been through, they deserve to have their happily-ever-after, whatever that might entail. To those people, I would say to pause and examine the W-P's lifestyle for themselves. Is it truly a good thing? What effect will it have on their children? Are they even thinking of their children in their haste to remain together? All valid questions that it seems the Weasley-Potters are shirking. Only time will tell. Until next time, I remain humbly yours. Ethan M.**_

Ron rolled up the paper and looked at Harry. "It could be worse."

"How?" Harry squeaked.

Ron smiled and kissed his nose. His husband's indignation made him feel a lot better. "Well, at least he didn't start a petition for my removal from the house," he joked. "Or he could've suggested we build another house next to this one and have me and my kids in one and you and yours in the other. Hermione would have to run back and forth." He made the jogging motion with his arms and Harry cracked a smile. "We've been through worse than this garbage. You certainly have. My only question is why in the name of Merlin's balls someone thought this should make the front page."

"It's the Prophet being the Prophet," Harry said, shrugging. He jumped a little when the doorbell rang. Mordred started wailing at the noise and Harry hurried over to pick him up.

Ron glared at Fred when he swung the door open. "You have three!" he griped. "You should know better."

"Sorry, little brother. I was a bit preoccupied by this." He held up the Prophet. "Since when does the Wizarding world get to weigh in on everyone's home life?"

"Since now, I guess," Ron said. "Come on in."

Fred walked into the living room and sat on the couch next to Harry. "There's my favorite nephew! Don't tell any of the others," he added in a whisper, leaning in conspiratorially towards Mordred.

Harry laughed. "What brings you over in the rain?"

"Well, first I needed to make sure that one wasn't about to go looking for Ethan," Fred told him, nodding toward Ron. "And second, Tonks wants to know if Ginny can stay with you guys while she's on a mission. She'd have asked herself, but she was already undercover and couldn't go anywhere suspicious. She figures everyone comes into the 3Ws. Anyway, she's about to leave for a week and wants Ginny to stay with Hermione. Ginny's being stubborn, of course, so she needs someone to go over to their flat and talk her into it."

"Hermione should be back with Bianca in an hour or so," Ron said, nodding. "We'll send her over."

"Brilliant! I've got to get back to the shop now. I'll talk to you both later."

With that, Fred walked to the front porch and Disapparated.

"Game of chess while we wait?" Harry asked. "The little one's dosed off again."

"Sure. I expect you want to wait to talk about the article with Hermione?"

"Unless you're burning to discuss it."

"Not in the slightest. I'll go get the chess set."

**_LbN: Reviews por favor!!! Next chapter will be up soon!_**


	13. Good News x 2

**_LbN: Happy reading everyone!_**

Harry paced in front of the fireplace again. And back again. And back again. He really wished he had a Prophet to read. In the months that followed Ethan's article about the trio, the Prophet's readership had decreased dramatically. Harry felt a little bad about it, since not all of the writers were as sleazy as Ethan. On the other hand, they had let the story run in the first place so he couldn't feel too guilty. He, Ron and Hermione had given an interview to The Quibbler the week following and had pretty much called Ethan a scum bucket for calling their life to question like that. Harry still grinned whenever he remembered it. Since Luna had taken over The Quibbler, the magazine had been gaining a lot more credibility and readers. Said readers were pretty ticked off at the Prophet's audacity, questioning the Weasley-Potters' devotion to their children's well being. There had been a lot of cancellations of subscriptions, including the trio. Harry regretted this a bit now. He wanted something to take his mind off the wait, and there was nothing on the TellyWiz. The four month old was sleeping for once and everyone else was at the hospital. Ginny had gone into labor two hours ago, and Harry'd drawn the short straw for staying home with the baby. The three one-year-olds had stayed home with Fred, but they were all sick so Harry couldn't take Mordred over there.

With a sigh, Harry strolled to the door and summoned the mail. He whistled softly as the thumbed through the stack of envelopes. When he saw the last two, his breath caught. He'd applied with at least seven Quidditch teams for a coaching position at the end of last season. The Chuddley Cannons and the Cardiff Dragons had written back to him. He dumped the rest of the mail on the sofa and tore into the Cannons' letter. He'd been offered the job! He set the letter down on the table, taking deep breaths to collect himself. Opening the other letter, he found that for the first time in his life, he had a career decision to make. He'd had his pick of Quidditch teams as a player, and even though he still did, this was different. Coaching would be different. He set the Dragons' offer down next to the one from the Cannons and was about to check on Mordred when he heard someone Apparate outside.

Ron ran into the house a moment later, red-faced and grinning. "It's a boy!" he said, hugging Harry. "Ginny's wonderful, Tonks is…colorful."

"That's great! What did they name him?" Harry asked as Ron took off his cloak.

"Ares Braeden Tonks," Ron said. "Nine pounds."

"Nine?" Harry asked in alarm. "Nine? That sounds…painful!"

"Yeah, I'm sure Ginny's glad of her decision to not go the 'natural' route with this one. Oh, and Ares is colorful too."

"He's a metamorphmagus?"

"Yep. They got a picture of him before he started changing, but he sneezed half an hour ago and has been going through hair colors ever since. What's that?" Ron pointed at the two letters on the table.

"Offers," Harry said, grinning. He handed them to Ron. "The Cannons and the Dragons."

"Wow! Which are you thinking about?"

"I don't know yet. What do you think?"

"The selfish part of me is screaming 'Cannons! Cannons!'. And the other half is a bit more logical."

"What's that other half saying?" Harry asked, laughing as they sat down on the couch.

Ron leaned against him, still glancing at the letters. "The Cannons are an ancient team, and they still can't seem to pull it together. It's blind loyalty that keeps people like me with them. They've seen exactly 52 coaches. Some were lousy, some were genius, but it doesn't matter because the team is crap. You might not want to develop chronic migraines at their antics. The Dragons, on the other hand, were only founded three seasons ago. They made it to the All England Semis last season, but they don't have the discipline to take it all the way yet. I think you could work wonders there."

"The unselfish half of you really is logical," Harry said. Ron laughed. "Is it my turn to go see everyone, then?"

"Go ahead, I've got Mordred."

*****

Hermione jolted awake. Her motherly alarm clock was finely tuned, and she knew she was supposed to be up for something. Slipping out of bed, she walked down the hall to the nursery. She grinned brightly when she saw inside.

The lamp in the corner was lit and Bianca was sitting in Mordred's crib. The three-year-old had climbed in with him (something she'd been told not to do anymore) and was giving him a bottle. She was also explaining all the members of their rather large extended family….

"And you have Aunt Katie and Uncle Georgie, and our cousins from them are Landon and Othello. And we have a new cousin from Aunt Ginny and Auntie Tonks. His name is Ares…."

"Bianca," Hermione said softly. She walked the rest of the way into the room as the girl waved at her. "What are you up to?"

"I heard him fuss, so I wanted to help."

"I thought I said no climbing into the crib?" Hermione reminded her.

"Sorry," Bianca said, smiling and not sounding sorry at all.

"How'd you reach his bottle?" Hermione asked, sitting down in the rocker.

"It jumped down at me!"

"What?"

"I stretched to try and get it and," she took a deep breath, "and it jumped out of the basket and onto the floor." She gave her mom a confused look as Hermione squeaked and hugged her.

"Are you sure it jumped?" Hermione asked excitedly. "You didn't jump and reach it?" Already Hermione knew that couldn't have been the case. The bottles were all the way at the back of the dresser, so even if Bianca had stood on something she wouldn't have been able to reach it.

"Yes, Mommy. It jumped like a kan-aroo!"

Hermione's scientific nature took control of her parental excitement. She grabbed an empty bottle and made a wide arch from the dresser to the floor. "Like that?"

Bianca nodded turned back to her brother, who had drained the last of the formula. She reached out as if to pick him up, but Hermione stopped her.

"I'll burp him. Go tell your dads you did magic," Hermione said with a grin.

"I did magic?" Bianca whispered.

"I think so. Go tell them."

"The sun's not awake! You're just up 'cause of Mordred."

"True," Hermione said as the baby in question let out a small burp. "I'll go with you."

The three of them walked into the master bedroom and Bianca ran over to Harry's side of the bed. Poking him in the nose, Bianca said, "Daddy? Daddy I did magic!"

"No, I don't want lemon tarts…" Harry mumbled, rolling back over.

"I did magic!" Bianca repeated.

Slowly, Harry opened his eyes. Hermione counted "One potato, two potato," in her head and Harry, as she'd known he would, shot up in bed.

"You did?" he yelped. "How old are you?"

"Three, Daddy! You know that!"

"Course, I was just checking," Harry said, shaking Ron.

The redhead woke with a snort. "Wassumatter?"

"Bianca did magic!" Harry told him. "And since Hermione's here letting her wake us up at…4:30 in the morning, I'm assuming she did it for real?"

"She said one of Mordred's bottles jumped down to her," Hermione said. "And there's no way she could've gotten it herself. I'm going to put Mordred back; he's asleep again."

"It looks like someone else is almost there as well," Ron said as Bianca yawned. "Back to bed with you, Little B."

Nodding, Bianca shuffled down the hall to her room.

"She's only three!" Harry whispered. "Is that normal? That young?"

"Well, lots of kids display a little magic early. Fred used to levitate stuff when he sneezed, according to Dad. Around seven is when the magic should start…er…shooting off seriously. Bianca might not show any more until then. Or she might keep showing little sings of magic like this off and on. We'll just have to wait and see."

"We'll see," Harry said, yawning.

**_LbN: Reviews pleeeeaaase! Oh, and a new poll's up! Peace out, friends!_**


	14. A Very Weasley Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a….

Well, some creatures _were_ stirring

That evening of Yule:

Six Weasley grandchildren

(Plus the old family ghoul).

While playing that day, a fight had occurred

And it had all started

With four haughty words.

"There is no Santa," Victiore had said.

They could not believe it.

She was touched in the head!

Little Molly looked hurt,

Milosh looked heartbroken,

The three others looked pissed;

She had to be jokin'!

All argued out,

The kids hatched a plot.

But they had to be sure

That they wouldn't get caught.

"We'll spot Santa," Landon said with conviction.

"Let's lure him with cookies!"

The fabled addiction.

Their schemes all set,

And parents wished goodnight,

They hid in the playroom

That cold winter night.

Snuggled all cozy

In snowflake pajamas,

They told quiet stories

And snacked on bananas

As they waited to hear

The sounds of a sleigh.

They hoped he'd come soon,

For tired were they.

Bianca heard it first,

The bells all a-jingle.

Her heart picked up pace

Her fingers began to tingle.

She and the others slipped down the hall.

Anticipation overcoming them all.

They peeked round a corner,

Mirella stifled a gasp.

A red-suited man

With a silver-blue sash

Was carefully placing gifts under the tree.

He spotted them then

And said quietly,

"Merry Christmas, little ones!"

He gave a small chuckle.

"And thanks for the cookies."

He patted his belt buckle.

"To bed with you now!

You've caught me at last.

But you need your sleep!

Your bedtimes far passed!"

All of them nodded

And crept back to their room.

They crawled into beds

By the light of the moon.

Landon grinned ear to ear.

He'd known he was right.

Had he known the word "vindicated"

He'd have used it that night.

They quieted down

And looked out at the snow

When suddenly they heard

A loud "Ho ho ho!"

They dashed to the window,

They looked in the air.

And saw that jolly fellow

With his reindeer in pairs.

And the six children heard,

As he flew out of sight,

"Merry Christmas to all,

And to all a good night!"

**_LbN: Yeah, I know it's cheesy :D. Send reviews! Oh, and there's a new poll up on my profile!_**


	15. Ron's Trip of Manliness

**_LbN: Sorry this update took so long! I'm studying in the U.K. this semester and was in the process of packing/moving/getting over jet lag._**

Harry shed his hiking backpack and dropped to his knees by the river. Gasping for breath, he splashed some water over his face and looked toward his husband. He shook his head and took some more deep breaths. Ron's little mission was killing him. They'd gotten up that morning and Apparated at the edge of a forest. Which forest, Harry didn't know. He trusted that his husband knew what he was doing. In any case, he was too tired to ask questions.

Ron was on a mission to prove his masculinity. In accordance to the trio's "All Problems Spring from the Prophet" motto, an article titled "The Masculine Voice" had listed 75 men and why they were examples of masculinity. Almost all of the men who had fought in The Battle had been listed. Harry had a half page exaltation, Seamus (more famous as a broom developer) had been praised, and Neville had gotten an extolled as an excellent teacher. Even the twins got a small nod for being "Fathers of invention." Ron had been left out completely. Since then, he'd been in an odd frame of mind. He wasn't mad and he wasn't brooding, but it was clear that he was trying to prove himself—at least to his family. He had restocked the twins' store single-handed during their lunch break. He'd been tinkering in the shed behind their house, and Harry and Hermione had no idea what that was about. He'd had the idea for the camping trip three days ago, and had packed to rucksacks for Harry and himself. At four o'clock that morning, he'd woken Harry up to start the trip. They'd eaten a breakfast of fried eggs, potatoes, ham, waffles, peppers, tomatoes and fruit before leaving the house.

Harry glanced at his watch—they'd been walking for thirteen hours total! Seven hours before lunch and six since lunch. "Ron," he whinged. "Can we eat now? I'm hungry and my feet are about to tear themselves off my legs."

"We've got to build camp first," Ron said, walking over to the river. "Can't do anything till we've got the tents up." He dunked his head in the river and came back out sputtering. "Colder than I thought. Come on, this won't take long." Caving in to Harry's pleas to use magic, it took about a minute. He pulled his husband along to find firewood, and in no time, they had a fire going.

Harry dug through his backpack and produced two tins of spaghetti and some bread. "What's in store for tomorrow?" he asked, dreading the answer. He emptied both tins into a pan that Ron handed him and levitated it over the fire.

"Wake up at seven, breakfast, walk the river for about a mile, then we fish," Ron said, grinning. "We can have lunch here, if we catch anything, and then head home."

"We're Apparating home, right?" Harry asked, stirring the pasta.

"Of course!" Ron said. "I'm not sadistic enough to make you hike back."

"You'll never know how happy that makes me," Harry said, shaking his head. "Hand me your cup." He divided up the spaghetti and handed Ron two slices of bread to go with it.

They ate in silence. Ron was more tired than he was letting on, but he was having a lot of fun as well. It had been ages since he'd been camping. He mopped up the spaghetti sauce with his bread and ate it in two bites. Stretching, he pulled two homemade granola bars out of his bag, tossed one to Harry and said, "Dessert."

"How come you didn't tell me you had these?"

"Because you would have tackled me around 2:30 today to get one as a snack," Ron said, laughing.

"Point taken."

"So…." Ron began. "Are you nervous about next week?"

"Not really nervous, no. It's more of a blind terror at this point," Harry said conversationally, as if he were discussing the weather.

"Why are you so worried?" Ron asked, laughing. "You've been playing since you were eleven, you've played professionally for two great teams, and you know you're a leader. Coaching should be cake for you."

"The team could hate me. It doesn't matter how much you know if the players don't like you."

"Why wouldn't they?" Ron asked, picking up their trash. "Cardiff's team is young, so it's not like they've been playing for 30 years with the same coach and don't want a newcomer. They're all younger than you, so you won't have any old guys trying to out coach you. "

"I guess." Harry yawned. The day was beginning to crash down on him. "Bed," he said, glancing over at the tent.

"Right-o. Let me put the fire out."

As Ron doused the fire, Harry hauled the two bags into the tent. Even though they'd done the traditional campfire cooking, Harry'd insisted on using a magical tent. He set their bags next to the poker table and grabbed his and Ron's nightclothes. By the time he was done changing, Ron was walking into the tent.

"What took you so long?" he asked the redhead.

"I was doing animal repelling spells. And I wanted to have a look down the river to see if there are any really good fishing spots."

"Are there?"

"It's too dark to see," he said, putting on his pajamas. "We should find a place tomorrow." He climbed into the bed next to Harry and wrapped an arm around him. "G'night."

"Night Ron," Harry said with a yawn.

* * *

Harry woke the next morning to find the bed beside him empty. Since there were no yells of terror coming from outside the tent, he figured his husband wasn't being eaten by anything furry. He heard a quiet shuffling and sat up as Ron burst back into the tent carrying a can.

"Found worms!" he said. "Come on, get dressed."

"You've far too much energy in the morning," Harry grumbled. He rolled out of bed and began changing into his clothes. Time for another day in Ron's Trip of Manliness.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews, mmmkay?_**


	16. The Mysterious Shed Monster

**_LbN: I'm really starting to wonder how this story, that was supposed to be five chapters, turned into sixteen. And I still have to write more! Oh well...:)_**

A deafening bang sounded as a plume of purple and teal smoke went up from the middle workstation. Coughing and swearing under her breath, Hermione stumbled over to where one of her scientists lay flat on his back. "Ponder? J.P.? Julius Marion Ponder!"

"Hey!" the boy said. "I know you're my boss, but you're not my mum! Anyway, I think I got something here. Take a look."

Hermione peered into the tub Ponder had been working on. A green solution lay stagnant at the bottom. Solidified in a corner was something that looked like purple boogers. "Er…what is it you've got, Ponder?"

"No idea! But they're separate, see? We've never done that before! The next big explosion'll be the one!"

"The one that kills you?" Hermione asked. "Ponder, I know you like making things go boom, but really…." Hermione shook her head at the still grinning boy. The experimental potions job attracted all sorts: the brainy (like Hermione), the determined (like Dean), and then there was Ponder…. Fresh out of Hogwarts, the seventeen-year-old was (there was no other way to put it) bat shit insane. Not the scary kind; Hermione wouldn't have hired him if she'd been worried about everyone's safety. He was the kind of crazy that everyone called genius. Neville had personally written him a letter of recommendation, in which he'd told Hermione, "Be patient with this one. He's a bit odd, but he'll do great things for the lab." A bit odd was putting it rather lightly. Hermione could tell what kind of day Ponder was having quite easily: bad day= silence; good day= grins; really good day= giggling; breakthrough of momentous proportions= prancing. And he really did prance.

"Just clean the soot off the ceiling and keep going," Hermione said. "And next time—"

"Hermione?" Jenna, another lab technician, interrupted.

"—make sure you cover the tub—"

"Hermione?"

"I don't want a repeat of the glowing putty incident—"

"Hermione?"

"I mean, don't get me wrong, it does make a great kids toy—"

"Hermione?"

"And Fred and George were elated—"

"Hermione?"

"What is it Jenna?"

"Your kid? Small four-year-old, curly black hair, blue eyes? Wears a black and pink PreWiz uniform?"

"Actually she won't be four for another we-- Why?" Hermione asked. Then she felt a tug at her lab coat. "Bianca? What are you doing here?" she asked, bending down to hug her.

"Eddie Johnstone punched a wall and set the building on fire," Bianca said. "So we had to Floo home from the headmistress' office."

"Alright. So why didn't you go home?"

"I did, but Dad told me to Floo here. I was eating my lunch in your office when Mr. Dean walked by. He brought me here."

"Actually, I didn't know she was following me. I told her I'd tell you she was here," Dean explained.

"Thanks, Dean," Hermione said with a laugh. "Why did Dad tell you to come here?"

"'Cause Daddy's still at the doctor with Mordred."

"No, I meant why couldn't you stay at the house?"

"I think he's working on the—" Bianca stopped. She clammed up the way kids do when they're wondering if they can un-say what they've just said.

"On the what?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do! You were about to say."

"I don't know."

Hermione sighed, wondering what Ron was playing at this time. "Well, come with me back to the office. You can color while I work for a while longer."

* * *

"Ron? Harry?" Hermione called as she and Bianca entered the house. She heard a happy squeal from the kitchen and followed it. Mordred was in his high chair and Harry and Ron were racing dry pasta across the kitchen table, much to the baby's amusement.

"Check up went well?" she asked.

"Perfectly!" Harry said. "Fred, Angelina, George, Katie and the kids are coming over for dinner."

"Great! Is this a random gathering or is there an occasion?"

"I think there's an occasion, but Ron's being very vague." Harry ducked as his husband chucked a campenelle noodle at his forehead. Bianca giggled.

"I told you, you'll find out after dinner," Ron said.

"Would this have anything to do with the mysterious shed monster?" Hermione asked. That was the name they'd given to whatever it was that Ron was working on in the backyard.

"Maybe. Who wants to help make the sauce?"

In no time a vat of pasta with clam sauce was being dished into a serving bowl. Hermione had the salad on the table, and Harry had managed to make the garlic bread, only burning two pieces.

Bianca stole a tomato off the salad and ran into the living room as the doorbell rang. "Who is it?" she called.

"The uncles that bring toys!"

"Mommy, Uncle Fred and Uncle George are here!"

Hermione came to open the front door. When she did, Landon and Mirella ran in and tackled their younger cousin.

"Be gentle!" Angelina said. "There's only twelve of you; we can't afford one of you to break…."

After hugs, punches and Ron yelling to corral everyone, they sat down to eat. The older kids wolfed their food down and sat squirming as the adults alternated between eating and feeding the babies. Hermione's confusion grew as she spotted them throwing glances at Ron. She would've thought he was oblivious, but he was obviously trying to ignore them and not smile. They lasted an entire hour and fifteen minutes before Landon broke…

"Oh, for god's sake, Uncle Ronnie!" he exclaimed, slumping in his chair. Even in the presence of five girls, he was the biggest drama queen.

"Alright then," Ron said simply. "Everyone done?"

"Yes!" the three kids yelled.

Ron laughed and made a motion for them to follow him. They ended up leading him, as they all dashed for the back door. There was a scuffle (which Mirella won) and they tumbled into the backyard with the adults trailing after them.

"Er…Ron?" George said. "Care to explain?"

Ron waved his wand toward the shed and the doors expanded a few times. He flicked his wrist again, and sliding out came…

"Yes!" Landon yelled.

It was a miniature castle, big enough for the kids to play in. It had a tower and everything. Ron waved his wand one more time and the drawbridge came down.

"So this is the mysterious shed monster?" Hermione asked, burping Mordred.

"Yeah. They asked me to build them a clubhouse and I got a little carried away," Ron said. "Had to do some expansion spells on the shed."

"It's brilliant!" Harry yelped, running over to examine it.

"Wait a tick!" George said. "We're the toymakers in this family! How come they didn't ask us?"

"Because we wanted a normal clubhouse, Uncle George," Mirella said.

"Yeah Dad," Landon said, nodding. "No trap doors, no staircases like at Hogwarts, no invisible moat…."

By the way Fred's eye was twitching, the other adults knew Landon had just given him an idea.

"What's a moat?" Bianca asked from the tower.

"Water that goes around the castle to keep the bad guys out," Hermione told her.

"Cool! What's invisible?"

"It means you can't see it."

"Cool!"

"Uncle Ron, where's my torture chamber?" Mirella asked.

"That kid's not well…." Fred told his younger brother.

"Wonder where she gets it from," Angelina muttered.

"Shall we leave them to it?" Ron asked. "The Lisbon/San Antonio game is about to come on."

"Ooh, that's going to be brutal," Katie said.

"Let's watch!" Harry said. "Don't kill each other out here!" he added to the kids.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews!_**


	17. A Fight

**_LbN: Shorter chapter today. Happy reading!_**

Hermione walked in and threw her bag and jacket onto the couch. She needed a drink. A big drink. She'd spent the day literally putting out fires. Ponder had gotten a bit enthusiastic about their assignment to find a stronger calming solution. He'd pranced out of work that day and Hermione'd collapsed into a chair. After an hour of paperwork, she'd decided her migraine was large enough to call it a day. Walking into the kitchen, she spotted a large poster on the kitchen. When she read it, she smacked her forehead. In large, finger-painted letters, the words "Happy Birthday Daddy!" were written above a stick figure picture of the family.

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you forgot?"

Hermione turned to Harry. He was standing in the doorway, smirking at her.

"Sorry," she said. "It's just been crazy at work this week, and I was planning on coming home early today, but then Ponder—"

"Blew something up. 's okay."

"Don't mope, Harry. I said I'm sorry."

"I'm not moping. I told you, it's fine. We'll do something tomorrow. It's not like it's a big deal."

"Stop using reverse psychology on me. It makes me feel guilty."

"I'm not…okay, maybe I am a little bit."

"See, you're so good at it you don't realize when you're doing it. I don't get why you're grumpy with me; it's not like Ron's here either."

"Ron made me breakfast this morning, and he was here with the kids and me until an hour ago. He and Bianca went to the game."

"He took Bianca?"

"He wanted to spend some more time with her before he had to leave."

"It's past her bedtime!"

"So? It's not like she's got school tomorrow. She can have a lie in."

"Oh, stop being contrary just because you're ticked at me."

"Is there a better reason to be contrary? Go to bed. You're cranky."

"I'm not cranky! And I'm not a three year old either. I'll go to bed when I please."

"Fine," Harry said with a sigh. He went to the fridge and grabbed a juice box out. Puncturing it a bit too enthusiastically, juice squirted onto the counted. "Oh for…."

"Looks like you're the cranky one."

"Your wife forgetting your birthday and then picking fights with you tends to do that."

"Oh for Christ's sake, Harry! What do you want me to do?"

"What do I want you to do? Try baking a cake for my birthday, or at least remembering it! How about spending a little time with me, or Ron, or your son and daughter? How about screwing me every once in a while? Aren't I married to you? Can you handle that?"

"You know, I'm all for solutions, but perhaps we could come up with a solution that doesn't involve me stepping back into the 40s."

"Oh, stop being such a feminist! Ron does all that stuff and he's a guy; as he demonstrated on his fix everything/camp/cook outdoors binge last month. I don't want you to step back into the 40s. I want you to step back into our house. Preferably in time to at least put Bianca to bed. We never see you anymore! I know Ron and I go off for work, but at least we write home every day. You're here and we barely get to talk to you." He took a breath, as if trying to figure out what else there was to say. Giving up, he tossed the half-finished juice box into the bin and stormed upstairs.

Hermione stood silently in the kitchen for a minute before following. When she got there she found Harry lying on the bed, still fully clothed, with his eyes clothes. She kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, sitting next to him. "Harry?"

He was still and didn't say anything. After a moment of silence, he opened one eye. "I don't want to fight."

"I don't either. I'm sorry." She put a hand on his stomach to get his attention. "I'm sorry. I know I haven't been around much, and I'm going to try harder. I promise."

Harry opened both eyes to look at her. "Really?" He sat up.

"Really," she said. "We'll do something tomorrow for your birthday and then when Ron gets back, we'll do something as a family."

"I'm holding you to that, Hermione Granger-Weasley-Potter."

"Harry! What have I told you about using my full name! It's—" That was as far as she got before her grinning husband kissed her to shut her up.

**_LbN: All I really need is ice cream and reviews!!!_**


	18. Surprises

**_LbN: Hello, hello! Ron's back in this chapter, for those of you who missed him :)_**

"Come stand by me, Mordred!" Harry called. "You have any idea why Hermione was so keen to get us out of the house?" he asked Ron as the 13-month-old waddled back to them.

"No. I figured she'd want me to come pick up Bianca, but she did seem a bit…."

"Anxious for us to leave?"

"Yeah." Ron stooped down and picked up Mordred as children began filing out of the school. Smoothing the boy's long curls out of his face, he glanced around for their daughter. He finally spotted her walking out with another girl from her class. "Wave at Bianca, Mordred."

Bianca waved goodbye to the girl and stopped to readjust her backpack. She looked up and broke into a run when she spotted the three of them. "Dad! You're back!" She grabbed Ron round the leg.

"Yes, I'm back," Ron said laughing. He passed Mordred to Harry so he could lean down to hug her. "Shall we go home and see what Mummy's up to?"

"How come you think she's up to something?" Bianca asked, hugging Harry's leg as well.

"We know your mum," he and Ron said together.

*

Harry set Mordred down on the step as he unlocked the door. Ron and Bianca were currently in a lively discussion over what to make for dinner (lamb chops vs. pasta), and he was about to cast his vote when he opened the door and got a surprise. A pink balloon appeared in front of them with gold lettering that said "Pop me!" There was a needle attached to the bottom of the ribbon. Harry threw a curious glance at Ron before complying. When he popped the balloon, something fluttered to the ground.

Bianca hurried forward and picked it up. "That's me!" she said, holding it up for Harry to see. It was her baby picture.

Another balloon had appeared, blue this time. Ron walked over and popped it as well, receiving Mordred's baby picture. "This is weird…"

"More!" Mordred yelped, pointing to the third balloon.

At that moment, a theory hit both Ron and Harry. They looked at each other, at the balloon, and back at each other. "You don't think…." Harry said.

"Bianca, pop the last balloon," Ron said, pulling it down so she could reach.

She did, and picked up the last picture. "What is it?" She handed it to Ron, who grinned at the sonogram.

"At least we won't have to pay for a paternity test this time," he muttered, grinning. "Now I know what you were up too while I was gone, Harry."

Harry was running around the living room, spinning Mordred in circles, and laughing. He stopped when he spotted Hermione at the top of the stairs. "Something you'd like to tell us, Miss Granger-Weasley-Potter?"

"I'll ignore the use of my last name for now," she said. She walked down the stairs and hugged a very confused Bianca. "Mummy's going to have another baby!" she told the four-year-old.

"Again?" Bianca asked.

The three adults laughed. Mordred wobbled over to Hermione. "Yes, again," she said as she picked him up.

Bianca was quiet for a moment. "Can it be a girl this time?"

The adults laughed again, but this time Ron answered her. "We'll see. Now go change into your Wiz Scout uniform so I can take you to the meeting."

*

Bianca swallowed her last bit of sandwich and opened her chocolate milk. She downed it in two gulps and got up from the small table. Dumping her trash, she walked over to her teacher and tapped her on the hip. "Ms. Graves?"

"Yes, Bianca?"

"I've finished my lunch. May I go see my brother now?" she asked. She was in a habit of going to the nursery sometime during the afternoon to see Mordred.

"Of course you may." Ms. Graves walked her to the door of the four-year-olds' room and watched her walk down the hall.

Bianca waved back at her teacher as the nursery director, Mr. Humphrey, let her into the room. "Mordred!"'

The little boy looked over from his highchair, spaghetti-Os covering his face. "Yana!"

She walked over to him and climbed into one of the larger chairs. The other nursery assistant, Mrs. Chenowith, came over and handed her a cookie. "Hello, Bianca! Are you going to stay here for nap time?"

"Yes ma'am," Bianca said through a mouthful of cookie. She took another bite, turning around when the door opened. A man stepped in, carrying a small boy. Bianca watched him settle the kid into another highchair as she finished her cookie.

When he'd strapped the child in, he looked up and spotted her. "Bianca Potter, right?"

Bianca looked hard at him. She wasn't sure who he was, but she was used to people knowing her because of her parents. "Weasley-Potter, sir."

"I'm Mr. McDermott," he said, holding out a hand.

She wiped her hand on the front of her dress before shaking his. "Nice to meet you."

"Yana!" Mordered whinged.

She moved her chair closer to his and grabbed one of the baby wipes from the dispenser on the table. As she was cleaning his hands, she noticed Mr. McDermott looking at her again. "What's up?"

"You're a really good big sister," he said simply.

"I know. I have to practice again for the new baby."

"Your parents are having another baby?"

"Yeah. I asked for a girl—"

"Bianca?" Mr. Humphrey asked. "I'll finish cleaning Mordred up. Could you run get his diaper bag so I can change him?"

"Yes, sir!" She nodded, then turned to back to Ethan. "Peace out, Wiz Scout!"

*

"How was your day, B?" Harry asked.

"Good. I made a new friend."

"Really? What's this friend's name?" Harry asked, expecting her to launch into a story about a rabbit they saw on the playground.

"Mr. McDermott."

Harry stopped walking a looked down at his daughter. Ignoring the way Mordred was drooling on his shirt, he asked her, "Ethan McDermott?"

"I dunno."

"Did he have spiky brown hair and a unibrow?"

"Yeah!"

"What was he doing at the nursery?"

"Dropping off his little boy."

"Did he talk to you at all?" Harry asked.

"Yes, he told me I was a good big sister for helping Mordred clean up. I told him I was practicing for the new baby."

"You mentioned the baby?"

"Was it a secret?" Bianca asked, looking worried.

"No, not a secret. Well, that's interesting. Sounds like you had an eventful day."

When they made it home, Harry told Ron and Hermione about Bianca's "new friend." "So you might want to tell everyone about the baby tonight. I have a feeling it'll be in the paper tomorrow."

**_LbN: Hope you guys liked it! All I need is ice cream and reviews!_**


	19. Bianca's Birthday

**_LbN: Hope you guys like the chapter!_**

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Bianca! Happy birthday to you!" the class chorused.

The new five-year-old blew out the candles on her purple Wonder Witch cake. She'd seen the WW products at her uncles' store and begged Ron to make her cake WW Love Potion shaped. After a few minutes of puppy eyes, he'd relented. She took a plate of cake and sat with her friends to eat.

In a few minutes, everyone was covered in purple frosting. Bianca's classmate, Sarah, stacked their plates and said, "I liked your cake, B!"

"Yeah! My Dad made it."

"No he didn't." They turned around. A boy was standing there with baby wipes. "Here, take your towels." It was Jeffy Seymoure, a seven-year-old. They were in there today because their teacher had the flu, and the sixes' class was on a field trip.

"Yeah he did!" Bianca asked. "Go away, Jeffy."

"Nah uh! The red-head guy who dropped you off said _he_ made it. That's not your dad."

"He is too!"

"No! Harry Potter's your dad, pigtails."

"That's my _daddy_ bug breath," Bianca said.

"You can't have two! That's not the rules!"

"You can so," Bianca argued, but didn't seem sure. "There's no rules about families."

"Yes-huh!" Jeffy set the box of wipes on the table and sat down, ready to school these poor, dumb five-year-olds. "There's only 'possed to be one mommy and one daddy."

"Says who?"

"My daddy."

"Your daddy's dumb. There's no rules! You can have whatever family!"

"My daddy's not dumb! He's an Auror!"

"Oh yeah? Well that means my auntie Tonks trained him, and she's smarter! I bet she'd say there's no rules about families."

"Yeah, 'cause she's in a weird family too. Your family's stupid 'cause they break the rules!"

"You take that back!"

"Make me."

*

"Kingsley, you know perfectly well we don't have the money for that," Hermione said, chuckling, as she watched the WizardCast of the Minister. She waved her wand as the reception shook. It cleared after a few seconds and Kingsley spoke again.

"I know, but you have the money to start," he said. "Send a research crew for a month, and we'll worry about how to continue when they get back."

"Alright," Hermione nodded. "I'll put together a team, and we can have a brainstorming meeting sometime next week."

"Sounds great. We need to—"

"Hermione!" Ron said from the kitchen. "Urgent owl from the Wizarding Private Primary."

"Bianca's school?" Hermione said. "What's going on?" She glanced quickly at the letter. "You've got to be kidding!"

"What's wrong?" Kingsley asked.

"Bianca gave some kid a black eye."

"What?"

"We have to get over there. I'll owl you with the plans."

"Don't worry about it," Kingsley nodded. "Just go take care of your kid."

The WizardCast cut out and Hermione struggled to her feet. "She never fights. What could have happened?"

"I've no idea," Ron said. "I sent a message to Harry to meet me there. You should stay here; you're supposed to be off your feet."

"No way, Ron. I'm coming with you."

Knowing better than to argue with his extremely hormonal wife, Ron said, "Fine, but if you go into labor I'm saying I told you so."

By the time they made it to the school, Harry was already outside waiting on them. "Any ideas?"

"No. Let's just go see what happened," Hermione said.

Inside the school's office, Bianca sat looking ticked at the world. Across from her was a blonde boy with an ice pack held to his eye. Bianca looked over at her parents when they came in, defiance etched on her face.

"Ah, you're here," Principal McKinnley said, extending a hand for the three of them to shake. "If you'd like to step into my office, we'll discuss this…er…unfortunate occurance. Bianca, you may come too." Once inside, McKinnley asked, "What happened today in class, Bianca?"

"Jeffy said stuff. He made me mad."

"But surely you know that we don't permit fighting? Why did you hit him?"

"He said…mean stuff."

"What kind of mean stuff, B?" Hermione asked.

In less than a second, Bianca lost her mad expression. It was replaced by a look of pain. "He said we were breaking the rules and that you were stupid."

"What rules?"

"The rules about who gets to be a family."

The adults cringed. Ron, Harry and Hermione had thought they'd need this conversation in a couple years at the earliest. "B," Harry said. "You know there're no rules about families. There's all different kinds of families out there."

"Jeffy said there were rules. He said you guys and Auntie Tonks were stupid and we were a weird family."

"We're just different," Harry said firmly. "And I promise, there aren't rules on who gets to be a family. Some people just don't like different families, so they make stuff up like that."

"Your dad's right, Bianca," McKinnley said. "And I'm sorry he upset you. However, we do have rules about fighting in this school. I'm sending you home for the rest of the day. Perhaps you can think about better ways to solve your problems than hitting."

Bianca nodded and followed her parents out of the office.

*

"She gave him a black eye?" Tonks asked, gasping with laughter. "Seriously? Didn't you say he was, what? Two years older than her?"

"Yeah," Hermione nodded. "We had a long talk with her when we got home."

"How was Seymoure about it?"

"Don't know. We left before he got there. I'm sure he's pissed. Ron sent him an owl, but he hasn't replied."

"It could have been worse," Tonks said, shrugging. "She could've started a food fight."

"Nah, they were done with the cake by the time this happened, according to her teacher."

"At least this has been an interesting birthday for little B."

**_LbN: Send reviews, mmmkay? And the poll is working now!!!! Go ahead and vote :). _**

**_Special Message to Andromedaa: I totally forgot that this was a request, not gonna lie :). How are you liking it? Is this at all what you had in mind? It kind of spun out of control :). _**


	20. Hector Tristan

**_LbN: Woohoo! Chapter 20! I feel like celebrating. "~',~'" that's internet confetti... :)_**

**7:45 p.m.**

They waited silently as Ron spoke quietly with Arthur. The family, quite large now, had decided that most of them would wait at their respective houses for news. Only Charlie, Molly, and Arthur were at St. Mungo's. Ron left quietly and Arthur turned back to the family looking grim.

"Arthur?" Molly asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Hermione's having a bit of trouble with this one," Arthur said. "Ron suggested that we wait at the house."

"Should I go over to Fred's and tell them not to keep the kids up waiting? I have to go to George's anyway to pick up Milosh." Charlie asked.

"That's probably a good idea," Arthur said. "We'll see you later, then?"

"See you."

**9:30**

"Right, Hermione, we're all done," Healer Welcer said quietly. "And it's a boy!" He cleaned the baby off and wrapped him in a blanket. After handing the boy to Harry, he said, "You're going to feel a bit drowsy for the next few minutes, Hermione. You should be able to fall asleep quickly enough. When you wake up you'll feel some discomfort in you abdomen, but it shouldn't hurt. Alright?"

"Right," Hermione said quietly.

"Look, Hermione," Harry said, leaning down so she could see the baby.

She smiled, nodded, and closed her eyes.

"You alright, Ron?" Harry asked quietly. He walked around the bed to where Ron sat and kissed his pale husband on the forehead.

"I will be. That was the scariest shi—crap ever."

"I know," Harry said, shivering a little. "But she's fine. The baby's fine too."

Ron turned his head a little to get a good look at the newborn. "Wow, and I thought Mordred looked like me right off."

"Blue eyes again, though," Harry said. "I don't get that. Neither of our eyes are blue."

"His are lighter blue than Bianca's were. They might change; it happens to a lot of babies."

"He's gorgeous even if they don't," Harry said, smiling. "Have you thought about names at all?"

"Are you kidding?" Ron asked. "This has been the busiest pregnancy ever! Besides," he grinned at Harry. "I thought you said I wasn't allowed to name any more after 'The suffering inflicted on poor Mordred.' Wasn't that what you said?"

"I did," Harry agreed, chuckling. "But I figured you might have some less psychotic ideas."

"Not one. And might I remind you that it was our daughter's idea."

"Yeah, but you went with it."

"I brought the name book, if you want a look at that."

"Do you want to hold him while I look?"

"Of course!"

They swapped, book for baby, and Harry took a seat next to Ron. He flipped through the book quietly for a long time. He barely noticed when the nurse came in with bottles and formula. Every so often, he'd look over at Ron feeding or rocking the baby with an almost puzzled expression and then go back to the name book. An hour and a half had passed, with him making pencil marks in the book, before he began to scribble ideas in the margins.

"I hope he has a name by the time we leave," Hermione said quietly.

Ron, who'd known she was awake, laughed softly.

Harry, who'd been agonizing over the book, jumped. "Feeling okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. A little sore, but fine otherwise. Better than I thought I'd feel, considering."

"Well, you happen to have wonderful timing," Harry said with a smirk. "Because I've found a name."

"Don't look so smug," Ron said. "At least one of us has to approve it."

Harry stuck his tongue out at him before saying, "I know that."

"My husbands are so mature…." Hermione said. "What's the name?"

"Hector Tristan."

The two other adults were quiet. It was a good name. They'd never found a good name that they all liked right off the bat. Harry was still threatening to change Mordred's if it caused the boy problems at school….

"I like it," Ron said, nodding.

"I'm still a bit high off the pain potion," Hermione said. "Tell me again when I wake up."

With that, she closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

*

"Bianca, wake up!" Ron sang. "Come on, you've got to go meet your new brother."

"No."

"No?" Ron asked. "What do you mean, no?"

"I'm tired, and Uncle Fred's making chocolate chip pancakes for brunch. I don't want to go to the hospital now."

"You don't want to see your new brother?"

"I've already got one brother, and babies prolly don't look that different from each other."

Ron decided to play dirty. "Maybe, but Mummy misses you. She was really looking forward to seeing you this morning," he said in his most pitiful voice.

Bianca gave a dramatic sigh and sat up. "Fine, I'll go."

Ron smiled at her. "Good! I'll meet you downstairs when you're ready." He left her to get dressed and walked back to the living room.

"Told you she wasn't going to want to go," Angelina said as he entered the room.

"I don't get it. She was super excited a few weeks ago."

"That was before she knew she was getting another brother instead of a sister," Fred told him. "Plus, she's having fun here with Mirella and the twins."

"I know," Ron said and shrugged. "I just expected her to be a little more excited."

"Well, she's done the whole big sister thing once before," Angelina reminded him. "And she's got all these cousins. It's not like a new baby is a great big deal to the kids in this family. Lord knows the older ones are probably bored to tears with it."

"Good point," Ron said, chuckling.

A while later, he was leading Bianca through St. Mungo's. "Remember, you have to be quiet in here, alright?"

"I know, Dad," she said, nodding. "What's his name?"

"Hector."

"What's his middle name?"

"Hector Tristan."

"Hec-tor. Tris-tan. Hec-tor. Tris-tan," she recited, as if it were a hard job remembering the new baby's name.

"You ready?" Ron asked. At her nod, he pushed open the door to Hermione's room.

**_LbN: Review please!!! Oh, and the polls are working again, so you can vote now. Again, if you liked "Teddy's ABCs" you should check it out!_**


	21. AhChooooo!

**Forever the Golden Trio**

Hermione and Ron followed Healer Drinkwater out of Bianca's room. They walked quietly to the living room where the Healer turned to them.

"She's a strong little girl. Not to worry; she'll make a full recovery."

"You're about to say 'but', aren't you?" Ron asked.

Drinkwater nodded. "This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Make sure she keeps drinking water. Only water—anything else will make her sicker."

"How many kids develop this?"

"Vulciuryse Syndrome? About one in every six thousand wizard children. No one knows why, but the good news is that she'll never get this again and it's not contagious, so your boys are safe."

"Small favors," Hermione nodded. "Thanks so much for your help."

"Not at all," Drinkwater said. "Send me an owl if you have any more questions."

"Will do. Thanks again," Ron said.

The Healer tipped his hat to them and walked to the porch, Disapparating with a small pop.

Ron closed the door behind him and pulled Hermione into a hug. "See? She's going to be fine. Just fine."

"I know. I was so scared."

"Mummy?" a little voice said.

Breaking apart, they saw Mordred standing behind them. Both smiled at the two-year-old, who had Ron's worried expression on his face. Hermione bent down and he ran into her arms.

"B still sick?"

"Yeah, she is. But she's going to get better, okay? No worries."

"Kay!" Mordred said. He squirmed away from Hermione and ran over to his play mat.

"I'm going to write back to Harry," Hermione said.

"Alright. I'll go check on Bianca again."

Hermione nodded and went into the kitchen. On the counter was the letter she'd received that morning from Harry. The Cardiff Dragons were playing an away match today, but after he'd heard about Bianca's illness Harry had considered coming home. She glanced over the note again:

_**What do you mean she has a 103 fever? Has it gone down yet? When did the shape-changing start? Is she Bianca again? Do you need me to come home? I'm packing right now. Love you guys, Harry.**_

Bianca's fever had gone down and the Healer arrived after that, and Hermione'd sent him a Patronus telling him to stay in Cardiff for the moment. Under her assurance that he would be immediately informed of all updates, Harry had relented and stayed with the team. Hermione picked up a pen and found some spare parchment in the drawer. She walked back into the living room where Mordred was playing with rubber blocks and sat down to write.

_Hi Harry,_

_Bianca's going to be fine. Apparently she's got this super-rare thing called Vulciuryse Syndrome. It causes kids to go through a flu-like period where their magic manifests itself in powerful, strange ways. In Bianca's case, it's shape changing. 1 in 6000 get it, but it's a once in a lifetime thing, according to the Healer. It's kind of like how kids shoot off magic randomly, only in this case it's condensed to a certain type of magic while she's sick. He said to keep her drinking water. When he checked on her, he said she'll probably be in this for another week or so. Hope your game went well. We'll be in touch if anything changes. Love, Hermione._

She sealed it and went to the window. Whistling loudly, she watched as one of the mail owls came zooming toward her. She watched it fly out of sight with her letter and turned to her son, who was making destruction noises as he knocked down his tower of blocks.

"Can I play too?" she asked him.

"You have pu-ple," Mordred said, pushing the blocks toward her. He continued building with the red and green.  
"Thanks," Hermione said, chuckling.

Ron came down the stairs at that moment. He looked like he didn't know whether to be amused or frightened.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"Er…teddy bear."

"Really?"

"She matches the Hogwarts bear we got her last Christmas."

"This is bizarre."

*

Harry tossed his bag on the floor under the cloak hooks. Excited though he was, he had to be quiet. Waking three kids (one of whom was sick) at three in the morning probably wasn't a good idea. He tiptoed through the living room to the kitchen and opened the fridge. The bright refrigerator light blinded him for a moment, but his eyes adjusted quickly. He grabbed the loaf of bread and milk and set about making some toast. Humming to himself, he poured a large glass of water and chugged it down. He poured another glass as his toast came shooting out of the small appliance. Catching it on a plate, he turned toward the sound of footsteps. "Hey Ron," he said, beaming.

"Morning," his husband said, yawning. "Why are you grinning like the Cheshire Cat?"

"Three words."

"Yes?" Ron prompted, stealing a bite of Harry's toast.

"Quidditch. World. Cup."

Ron choked and spat out the bread. For a moment, a disbelieving look colored Ron's face. Then, slowly, a wide smile spread across it. With a slightly breathless laugh, Ron tackled Harry into a hug, knocking him against the counter. He gave the Boy Who Lived a searing kiss and ruffled his hair. "Are you serious?" he squeaked. "Well done! Wales versus…?"

"Don't know yet," Harry said, holding a finger to his lips so Ron would quiet down again. "It'll be either France or Greece. Personally, I hope it's Greece. I hate playing France; they play dirty. Anyway, enough of that. How's our princess?"

"Fluffy. She keeps turning into stuffed animals. She turns back every time she sneezes, but I think it's frightening her. She was a giraffe a while ago. I'm flooring it in her room so Hermione can get some sleep. We want to keep an eye on her."

"Aye. You go catch some sleep. I'll stay with her. I won't be able to sleep for a while anyway."

"Cheers. Night, Harry."

"G'night Ron."

**_LbN: All I really need is ice cream and reviews!!! _**


	22. The Quidditch World Cup

**Forever the Golden Trio**

Bianca tossed the Quaffle and caught it. She tossed it, and caught it. She tossed it…. "Hey!" she yelped looking up into the face of a young man. He was grinning and holding the ball just out of her reach. "Give it, Mickey!"

"Shan't do anything until you say it," he said, grinning.

"Mickey Johnstone is the world's greatest Chaser," Bianca recited, familiar with the game. She played it with all the players.

Mickey lowered the Quaffle and let her take it. He was the Dragons' youngest player, and had four younger siblings, one of whom went to Bianca's school. He was the best with children. "There you are, Bianca. Stay near the tents, yes?"

"Yes, Mickey. Go to practice before my daddy has a hippogriff."

He laughed and gently pulled one of her pigtails before obeying.

Bianca continued tossing and catching the ball. She was supposed to be taking a nap, but she couldn't sleep. She was too excited for the game, even though it was two days away. She heard footsteps behind her and turned. A blonde boy was standing there. "Hi," she said.

"Hi."

"How'd you get up here? This campsite's only supposed to be for the teams and their families."

"I was by the river. Climbed up the hill," the boy said, shrugging. "How old are you?"

"Five."

"'s your name?"

"Bianca."

"I'm Scorpius."

"Scorpius?"

"Yeah. I'm six. Just had my birthday. Toss me the ball."

Bianca did. He tossed it back. The game was a lot more fun with a friend.

*

"Er…Hermione?" Ron said, peeking out of one of the tent windows.

"Yes?" Hermione looked up from her book.

"Please tell me that's not who I think it is."

Hermione walked over and looked outside to where Bianca and Scorpius were playing. She laughed. "That's a Malfoy if ever I saw one. Where'd he come from, I wonder?"

"There're campsites all over the place. He probably walked up from one of them. Of all the Quidditch friends she could make, it had to be Malfoy."

"Well, Draco does own…which is it? Scotland's team, right? That's a Quidditch match made in heaven. If they both go to Hogwarts they'll have a lovely time trash talking."

"Isn't she supposed to be napping?"

"You know she's barely slept for the past week," Hermione told him, chuckling. "She'll sleep well tonight, don't worry."

Ron looked back out of the tent. He didn't like this, and he didn't know why. Frowning, he picked up the newspaper and struggled through the Welsh. Every now and then, he'd glance back outside to the children.

"She's only five, Ron," Hermione said with a smirk. "She's not going to run off and marry him. Not yet, at least."

"Hrmmph…." Ron opened the paper again.

*

"Oookie! Oookie! Oooki!" half the stadium yelled.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" the rest of the Dragons' fans replied.

The cheer made no sense, but Bianca liked it anyway. She yelled as loud as the rest of the crowd, her red and green dragon hat bouncing as she jumped up and down. She clutched her stuffed dragon to her in excitement.

Ron lifted her so she could see above the heads of the people in front of her. When she waved to her left, he turned and saw the Malfoys headed into the top box. "Malfoy," he said, nodding to Draco.

"Weasley," Draco said. "My wife, Astoria, and our son, Scorpius."

"Pleasure. This is Bianca, our oldest."

"Don't you have two more?"

"Yes, but they're a little young for this madness," Ron said, smiling. "They're staying with the grandparents."

Draco nodded and settled in next to his son. Scorpius was showing Bianca his Quidditch cards. They sat, looking at the small book until the opening notes of Greece's national anthem began. The dads in the top box lifted the kids to see above the standing crowd. A shower of Guernsey lilies swirled around the pitch as the anthem was played by fauns. When it was finished, the flowers dissolved into the ground and the fauns went to stand on the left side of the pitch. A chorus of roars filled the stadium and red baby dragons swooped through the air. They gave off small puffs of fire before landing next to the trainers on Wales' half of the pitch. Once they'd landed, the two teams took the air.

When he wasn't engrossed in the match (which wasn't often) Ron glanced over to see how the kids were holding up. The match was running late, it was eleven o'clock. He was afraid one or both of them were going to keel over soon from exhaustion. Indeed it seemed Draco was thinking along the same lines. He was awfully quick at catching Scorpius when he swayed.

"Easy son," Draco said, picking the boy up.

Finally, around one in the morning, when Bianca and Scorpius were nodding off even with the noise, the crowd began to scream in earnest. Both children looked up from their fathers shoulders and scanned the skies for the source of the commotion.

"Wales' goal!" Ron said. "Both Seekers are after the Snitch!"

The two players in question zoomed across the pitch after a fleeting spot of gold. Then, one player shot up suddenly. Wales' Seeker, Carmine, had caught it.

"Carmine Forester has caught the Snitch!" the commentator announced. "Wales wins the World Cup, 648 to 350!"

The top box was illuminated. Ron and Draco shielded their children's eyes until the light dimmed. The Dragons filed into the box, and the cup was handed over to them. As Ron had guessed they would, Bianca and Scorpius began to cry. Exhaustion, relief, and joy were expelled in the form of tears and the dads hugged them closer.

*

Ron laid Bianca in her bed. He took her dragon hat off and set her toy dragon next to her. "What a night," he mumbled, smiling.

"Slash morning," said a voice. "And I'm sure it'll be an interesting day as well."

"Congratulations," Ron told Harry, hugging him. "Why aren't you celebrating with the team?"

"Because the team are getting drunk off their asses and I wanted to be with my family," Harry whispered. He leaned down and kissed Bianca's forehead. "Let's get to bed."

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Reviews are lovely! Also, Tonks and Fred/George are tied on the poll, so vote if you haven't! :)_**


	23. New Things

**_LbN: OMG, I couldn't get on FFNet all weekend! Anyway, time for a time cut! We're winding down friends :)..._**

_**The Next Year…**_

"Harry, are you making birthday pancakes tomorrow?" Hermione asked.

"Yep! The little man's first birthday definitely calls for pancakes," he said.

"Does that mean I'm in charge of dinner then?" Ron asked.

"Yep!" Hermione nodded. "Er…Harry? Ron? I need to tell you guys something."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"I'm pregnant."

"Again?" Ron yelped.

"Bloody hell woman!" Harry said, laughing.

"Hey! Do I need to explain how some things work? It's one of you guys' fault, more than mine," Hermione told him with a smirk.

"How far along are you?" Ron asked.

"A month."

"Wait a moment," Harry said. "That means—"

"I'll be having the baby around the same time as Ginny." Hermione nodded.

"Oh, this'll be fun," Harry muttered. He laughed as Hermione hit him with a dish towel.

"Come on, we need to get to bed. We have to be up for Fred and George's big day," Ron reminded them.

*

The play castle was vast, including Hogwarts-esque stairs and a semi-invisible moat. As the trio approached, they got a good look at the box. Ron started to laugh.

"King Ronald's Castle?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Well, we did steal your idea a bit," Fred said, appearing from behind a shelf.

"We thought it was only right to immortalize you in 3Ws glory," George said, grinning.

Under the title, the box had a cartoon picture of a castle and a boy with red curly hair. It was either Ron as a child or Mordred. Ron laughed and watched the twins climb the stairs of their shop. Fred turned to the waiting crowd and waved his arms for their attention. "Good morning ladies, gentlemen, and most importantly, children!"

"We're glad you could all join us today for the release of, not only King Ronald's Castle," George said, pointing to where it stood on the platform. "But also the a few more new Wheezes. Fred, if you will."

Fred took something out of his pocket and tossed it into the air. It bounced there for a second, as if it were on the ground, before descending slowly. It looked like a circular ball of putty with eyes and a nose.

Mordred approached it cautiously, hand out. It looked at his hand, sniffed it, and jumped on. Mordred looked worried. "Landon?"

The eight year old took the blob from his cousin, as the other children gathered around to look. "What is it, Dad?"

"It's a Plunkie, son. They make great pets. They get to be about the size of a basketball. That one's only a month old."

"What do they eat?" one of the parents asked warily.

"Wand light," both twins answered.

"And…er…waste?" the same parent asked. The children giggled.

"Darkness," Fred told him. "Small quantities, just around the Plunkie. We've been developing them for a couple of years now."

"What's their life span?" Hermione asked, shifting Hector to her other hip. Her kids might not want one, but from the looks on their faces, Ron and Harry did.

"Two years, with these models," George said. "Don't let them get too attached."

"But what _are_ they?" another parent asked.

Grinning at his twin, George said, "How about we show you the rest of the new things, and then we'll have a meeting just for the adults?"

Once everyone nodded, Fred and George continued with the demonstration. This included their new Wonder Witch products and a few new additions to the Skiving Snack Boxes. Through the entire thing, all of the kids were preoccupied with the Plunkie. Once they'd finished showing off their new things, the twins descended the stairs again to talk to the parents. "So, here's what the Plunkie is: a reversed Hinkypunk," George said.

"What?" everyone asked.

"We busted one of our expandable marshes in the corner of the lab, and one of those buggers moved in," Fred began. "So we waded in and caught it. Our marsh was only four by four feet, so there was no risk of getting lost, and we've always wanted to see what one looked like up close."

"So we trapped it, don't worry, we didn't hurt him!" George assured the assembled crowd of adults.

"He's still living quite happily in our accidental swamp, in fact. Anyway, we started researching how they breed (it's disgusting, I won't go into it) and wondered what would happen if we could get them to…er…do it backwards."

"So we tried and failed horribly of course. But then we thought, forget messing with this poor thing, we'll make our own—"

"From scratch—"

"And we'll make it feed on light, instead of darkness and cold. Our first attempt came out a lot uglier than that cute thing in there. We made some with shorter life spans at first. Finally, last year around the end of January, we had a serious breakthrough. The happy things were rolling around playing after a few weeks. It was brilliant. The life span we gave you is projected, since the oldest ones we have are only about a year and a half old right now. They're not for sale, but the babies are."

"You two never cease to amaze me," Angelina said, shaking her head and smiling.

"Thanks love," Fred said, grinning.

"And you're sure they're safe?" a parent asked.

"Of course," George nodded. "Don't worry; we take the kids' safety really seriously. We wouldn't sell them if they were too dangerous." He waved his wand toward the loft, and a pen of Plunkies came down. The kids rushed to it, talking loudly about which one they wanted.

Ron felt the left leg of his pants slip and looked down.

Mordred was there, smiling now, and tugging on him. He took his pacifier out and asked, "Can Nemo come home with us now? Or do Twin Uncles need him to stay?"

"Nemo?" Ron asked. The two-year-old pointed to the Plunkie on his shoulder. The thing was bouncing up and down.

"You've named him already?" Harry asked, amused. Mordred nodded.

"Tell you what," Ron said, bending down. "Let's let him stay with his friends a while longer, then we'll see. Okay?"

"'kay."

Ron scooped the blob up and handed him to Fred. "Keep him separate. I'll come back for him," he whispered to his brother.

"Right," Fred nodded, pocketing the Plunkie. It peeked out of the pocket and squeaked, before hiding again.

*

"Is there anything else we should know?" Hermione asked.

"Taking into account your last delivery," Welcer said. "I would advise this to be your last pregnancy. We'll plan on delivering the baby early, instead of a natural childbirth, just to be sure."

"Alright."

"Would you like to set a date now?"

Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron, who shrugged. "Beginning December?"

"That's fine. Actually, that's perfect. We'll have time before we go back to work," Ron said. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Then December's fine," Hermione told the Healer.

"How about the tenth?" Welcer asked. "That gives you a bit of time to recover before Christmas."

"That's a plan, then."

**_LbN: Send reviews, por favor!_**


	24. OMG BABIES!

**_LbN: Time cut! Time cut! :)_**

**December 6****th**

Hermione set the last cup in the dishwasher and closed it. Wincing for the fourth time since dinner, she decided she couldn't ignore it anymore. "Harry?"

The Boy Who Lived stopped cursing and trying to fit the leftovers in the refrigerator to look up. "What's up?"

"I'm in labor."

"Are you kidding?" Harry squeaked. "But…you're not supposed to go for another four days!"

"Babies can't read calendars, Harry," Hermione said, smirking.

"Alright, let's get you to the hospital then. I'll send a message for Fred to come over and stay with the—"

At that moment, Ron came bounding the stairs. "Ginny's in labor!"

"You've got to be kidding!" the other two said.

"So is Hermione," Harry said, after sending a Patronus to Fred. He waved his wand toward the door when a crack from outside signified his brother-in-law's arrival.

"You ladies do love the drama," Fred said, grinning as he came inside.

"I tried to make this one wait a while longer, but she wasn't having it," Hermione said, summoning her bag from upstairs.

"He," Ron and Harry said.

"It's a girl," Hermione told them. "Bianca just might kill the pair of you if it isn't."

"Let's get going," Ron said, laughing.

*

They wheeled Hermione into St. Mungo's just as Ginny and Tonks were getting there.

"Seriously?" Tonks asked with a smirk.

"Well, we were eating the exact same food and on the same schedule," Ginny said, wincing. "I guess we should've seen this coming."

"On the same day?" Healer Welcer asked, walking toward them. He had two nurses wheel the pregnant witches into separate rooms, and began to talk to the significant others. "Since Hermione's going to be an emergency delivery, I'm going to leave Ginny in the capable hands of Healer Vik. She's a wonderful Healer, and I'm sure you'll be quite happy with her."

"Okay," Tonks nodded. "See you two in a while then," she said to Harry and Ron.

*

"I told you so," Hermione said, smiling. She let out a yawn as she looked at their new baby daughter.

"Could her hair be any more red?" Harry asked, grinning over at Ron. "Seriously, mate, even Mordred's got a bit darker. This one's straight ginger."

"Speaking of ginger," Hermione said. "What's the last we heard about Ginny?"

"There was a lot of creative swearing coming from her room," Ron said, chuckling. "So I'm assuming she's alright. Tonks may not be…."

As if on cue, the three of them heard, "THIS IS OUR LAST ONE DAMN IT!"

The men laughed, but Hermione was nodding in agreement. Harry began filling out the birth certificate. "Are we still going with the name we chose last week?"

"Yes," Hermione said. Ron nodded.

"Nyke Anastasia Weasley-Potter," Harry said as he wrote.

"I'm going to go send messages to Dad and the family," Ron said, giving the baby a kiss and handing her to Harry. "I'll be back in a moment." He walked into the hall where he ran into Tonks coming out of Ginny's room.

"Wotcher," she said with a grimace. Massaging her hand she said, "It's a girl."

"Ours too," Ron said, grinning. "Your hand okay?"

"Yeah. I kept reminding myself that she was in worse pain than I was."

"Did that help?"

"No."

Ron laughed as they made their way to the Messaging Room. A few other proud fathers glanced their way as they walked in, but didn't say anything. Ron and Tonks walked over to one of the owls and Ron grabbed a pencil and parchment. "Nyke Anastasia Weasley-Potter, five pounds, 10:35 p.m. What's your little one's name?" he asked Tonks.

"Athena Kirsten Tonks. Seven pounds, 10:45," Tonks said, grinning. Now they were getting a few weird looks from the other dads. "My wife," Tonks explained, jerking her head toward the door. The others looked away, back to writing their own letters.

Ron rolled up the parchment and addressed it to the grandparents. Once he'd watched the owl zoom off with the note, he sent a Patronus to Fred to tell him all was well. "Ares and Athena?" he asked with a grin

"Ginny's idea, but I liked it," Tonks said.

"Come on, let's get back."

*

"Oi, McDermott's written about us again," Harry said, opening the Prophet.

Ron cast a shield charm to avoid the spray of liquid pancake from Hector. "What's he said this time?" he asked.

Harry read, "The Weasley-Potters Beautiful Family—"

"Sounds better than before," Ron said.

Harry continued, "Last night, the newest Weasley-Potter graced the world with her presence. Nyke Anastasia was born at St. Mungo's late last evening and will be joining her brothers and sister at the WPs' large home within the fortnight. This Prophet reporter would like to extend a warm congratulations to the family on behalf of their admirers and the Wizarding community."

"That's all?" Ron asked. "No commentary?"

"Nope."

"Wonder what changed his tune…."

"Don't know. He sees the kids every now and then when he's dropping his off at school. Maybe he realized they weren't touched in the head because of us."

"Maybe," Ron said, as Hector succeeded in spraying him with pancake. "Should we wake the other two up yet?"

No sooner had he said this that Mordred came scooting down the stairs. "Dad! Daddy! Look! The Binkie Fairy left Nemo for me!"

The binkie fairy had been Harry's idea. Same concept as the Tooth Fairy, only with pacifiers. And they went into a box instead of under the pillow. The Binkie Fairy had apparently gotten Mordred the Plunkie he wanted.

"That's great, Mo!" Harry said, lifting him into his booster seat. "Set him on the table so you can have your breakfast."

"Where Mummy go?"

"She had the baby last night!" Ron said.

They heard a gasp from the doorway and saw Bianca standing there.

"Well?" she asked, holding her arms out.

"You have a new baby…sister," Harry said.

"Yes!" Bianca screeched and ran back upstairs.

"Drama queen," Harry said, chuckling.

"Wonder where she gets it from," Ron mumbled with a smile.

**_LbN: Just so there's no confusion, Nyke is pronounced Nigh-Key. Like the sneakers. My lovely proof reading elf wanted to pronounce it NeeK, so I thought I'd clarify :). Send reviews please!!! I need them to survive!!! _**


	25. Christmas Again

**_LbN: I'm calling them the Weasley Fifteen because of the grandparents/where they're spending Christmas. FYI :)._**

Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a mouse.

Fifteen stockings were hung

By the chimney with care

In hopes that St. Nick

Soon would be there.

And when that jolly fellow

Appeared on that night

He was happy to see

The kids all snug tight.

All asleep in their rooms

No more doubts did appear

In the heads of the munchkins

As in previous years.

With a curious gaze

Santa walked past the tree

And was slightly puzzled

For there he did see

Tacked up near the stockings

A long sheet of parchment.

He paused for a moment

To read how the note went.

"Dear Santa," it said

"It's the Weasley Fifteen

We've told all the younger ones

How we have seen

You leaving presents

Some years ago.

They wanted to stay up

But we told them no.

We're writing to you instead

To discuss a few things

We hope we don't keep you

Too long in the wings.

Our family has grown

Quite large, you can tell.

Us older kids know this, too

Very well.

So one or two presents

Will do for us.

Please spoil the younglings,

Go ahead make a fuss!

We're not worried about

How many presents we stack.

Our parents have got it

(Self control they do lack).

But for the young ones

Christmas is still very new

And they're not sure

What Santa can do.

Bianca wants a toy broom,

For Mordred, a Knight.

He likes to play war

And make his dolls fight.

For Ares, the same,

Plus a new silver shield.

Othello and the twins

Want bikes a great deal.

Little Hector needs binkies

And lots of soft toys.

Preferably ones that

Don't make any noise.

And as for our youngest,

Nyke and Athena,

We defer to your knowledge

About this area.

We have no good idea

What the babies would like

So leave what you think

Is proper and right.

Thanks in advance

For the gifts you will leave.

Love from all of us,

The Weasley Fifteen."

Santa chuckled a little

And picked up his bag

Looking inside

He found all the tags

That showed him to whom

The presents belonged.

He left all the gifts

And was gone before long.

And when the kids woke

On that Christmas day

They knew in an instant

A visit, Santa did pay.

The older ones stood back

And let the younger ones through

As the parents came in.

"Merry Christmas to you!"

The adults did exclaim

As they looked at the tree.

"All of you have been

Very good, we can see."

Grandma Weasley then summoned

The breakfast to the den.

When the Christmas Bread landed

She said, "Dig in."

Breakfast, presents and stories

The day was thorough.

An excellent Christmas

Down at The Burrow.

**_LbN: Hope you liked it! Send reviews!_**


	26. Epilogue

**_LbN: I had to go back and edit the last chapter, because I definitely forgot to mention 3 of the kids...oops :). Seriously, for the last half of this, I had to have the HWT chapter open to get all the family members right! I'm actually kind of sad to be ending this one, but it's time. Thanks for sticking with me on this crazy ride! Happy reading :)... _**

"Ow!" Harry yelped, snatching his hand away from the frying pan.

Ron flipped another egg and turned his attention to his husband, who was pouting and running his hand under the tap. "Knock it off you big baby," he smiled. "You've barely even got a red spot." He turned the water off and kissed Harry's finger. "Now come on, we have to get breakfast ready. You can take care of the juice if you don't want to burn yourself again."

Harry stuck his tongue out at his grinning husband, but went to pour the juice.

With one last chuckle at his slightly dramatic lover, Ron went back to cooking. As he was frying the tomatoes, he heard a noise on the stairs.

"Morning Daddy, Dad," Bianca said yawning. She pulled her long black ringlets up into a ponytail as she walked to the table.

"Good morning, B," Harry said, beaming. They didn't have to leave for another hour, and she was already in her Hogwarts uniform. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Whatever Dad's made is fine," she told him, putting her head down in her arms.

"Hey! How do you know I haven't been slaving over this stove?"

She raised her head and gave him the "I don't think so" look. She looked so much like Hermione, all Harry could do was laugh. "You haven't mastered breakfast yet, Daddy. Besides pancakes," she amended.

All three of them jumped as Mordred, Ares and Hector came tumbling down the stairs. They straightened themselves and trouped into the kitchen.

"Hi Uncle Ron, Uncle Harry," Ares said, sitting at the table. He was bleeding slightly from above his eyebrow, but didn't seem to notice.

Harry healed him and went back to dishing up breakfast for the kids. Minor injuries were a common occurrence when these three were together. "Orange juice, anyone?"

"Ah, there's the last one," Ron said, glancing toward the stairs.

Nyke was descending, Hogwarts bear firmly in hand. "Morning."

"Morning, Little Princess," Ron said. He helped her into her booster seat and gave her a plate of eggs.

"Time for the train?" Nyke asked anxiously. She'd been clinging to Bianca for the past week, ever since she found out the older girl would be leaving.

"Not for a little while," Hermione said, coming into the kitchen. "Tonks and Ginny are going to meet us at the station."

"I don't see what the fuss is," Bianca whinged. "I'm the seventh kid to do this. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal," Ron said.

"That's right; you're starting your magical education today!" Hermione added.

"And we're not going to see you until Christmas, so we have to make a fuss now," Harry said.

"I wanna go with B!" Nyke said.

"It won't be so bad, Nyke," Bianca said quickly. Her sister had learned the art of temper tantrums well… "You'll still have the boys. And you and Athena are starting at the Primary next week."

The Wizards' Private Primary would be hosting the remaining eight kids that year.

"She's right," Hermione said. "You'll all be together."

"You'll be at Hogwarts soon," Bianca said, smoothing Nyke's red hair out of her face.

"Speaking of which," Ron said, glancing at the clock. "It's almost time to get going. Whoever's finished needs to go get dressed!"

*

The scarlet engine gleamed in front of them as the family gave hugs to the school-bound children; especially Bianca.

"Now don't forget—" Ron began.

"I _know_! I'll owl you as soon as the feast is over and I'll be sure to say hi to Hagrid and Neville," Bianca said, laughing. She watched her cousins climb onto the train but didn't follow. She stayed next to Nyke, hugging her as she looked up and down the platform.

"Er…aren't you going to sit with your cousins?" Ron asked.

"Maybe…in a minute."

"Maybe? Who're you look—"

"Bianca!"

All heads turned to see a blond head poking out of one of the cars. After hugging her siblings once more, Bianca dashed off. She hopped into the door Scorpius opened for her and leaned out of the window to wave.

"Aww," Tonks said. "She was looking for her boyfriend!"

"He's not her boyfriend!" Harry and Ron said.

"Oh come on, Weasley," said a drawling voice. "She could do worse."

"That remains to be seen Malfoy," Ron said.

Malfoy just laughed and waved at his son again before Disapparating.

"It's cute, Ron," Ginny said, holding Ares back from Mordred.

Ron grabbed Hector as he was about to join the fray. "You won't be saying that when Athena runs off with…what's his name? Padraig Seamus. Athena Finnigan's got a good ring to it."

The roots of Tonks' hair turned orange as she contemplated that. "Over my dead body."

Ginny and Hermione laughed at their overprotective spouses as they made their way from the platform.

*

"Weasley-Potter, Bianca!" Professor Longbottom called.

She walked slowly up the stairs, trying to remember how to breathe properly. As she sat, the hat partially covering her eyes, she could pick her cousins out of the crowd. Molly, Head Girl's badge pinned to her robes, craned to see her from the Gryffindor table. Landon, a shiny new Prefect badge next to his Ravenclaw tie, waved from next to Milosh. Mirella and Dominique grinned from the Hufflepuff table. And though she couldn't see her Bianca knew Victoire, the new flying instructor and Slytherin's head of house, was holding her breath from the staff table.

The hat was debating still. _Where to put you?_ She heard it say.

_Seriously?_ She thought. _There's only four options, and we can already rule out Ravenclaw! _She was smart, but she wasn't anything like Milosh or Landon.

Finally, after what felt like three hours, the hat yelled, "Slytherin!"

She turned around and gave Victoire a thumbs up and a grin, which sent a few of the other teachers into peals of laughter. Then she skipped down the steps and over to where Scorpius had made a space for her.

"Good one!" he said, clearly relieved.

"Thanks!"

*

Harry squirmed off the couch where he, Ron and Hermione had fallen asleep. Letting the owl in, he felt a rush of excitement. He unrolled the scroll of parchment and… "SLYTHERIN!" he yelped.

Hermione and Ron awoke with a start. "What's that?" Hermione said, yawning.

"Slytherin," Harry said. "And according to her, Victoire's not going to stop gloating for weeks."

"Well, it's gotta be hard watching cousin after cousin _not_ follow in your footsteps," Ron said, chuckling.

"You two know what this means, right?" Hermione said, as they walked quietly up the stairs.

"What?" both men asked.

"She's with Scorpius."

Both men glowered at her. "Not funny, Hermione Granger-Weasley-Potter," Harry said, breaking into a grin.

"Forever the trio," Ron muttered as the three of them climbed into bed.

**_Fin_**

**_LbN: How did we like it? It was a blast writing it, I'll tell you that much. I love how five chapters turned into seven, which turned into 26... Anyway, send reviews! I love them! And, this story might just be my first to make it to 100!!! (insert happy dance) There's a new poll up on my profile. I decided to hold off on Tonks' ABCs for now, because I don't quite know how I want to do it. So the poll is for my next two stories! Go vote, won't you???_**


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